Harry Potter & the Olympians: Tides of War
by VINcredable
Summary: After his adventure in the Chamber of Secrets Harry discovers his parentage is more unique than he thought. He is taken to a camp in America for kids like him where he will become involved with a quest to prevent world war 3. Percy Jackson xover.
1. I: The Demigod, the Goddess & the Spork

**Harry Potter & the Olympians : Tides of War**

I : The Demigod, the goddess and the Spork.

Dumbledore watched as Harry shoved Tom Riddle's Diary into his dirty sock and ran out of the room after Malloy Senior and chuckled, catching onto Harry's idea. This amusement however quickly disappeared as Harry's new circumstances weighed on his mind, up until now he had been able to keep Harry safe with a combination of the Wards around Privet Drive and the protections of the castle. It got harder and harder as Harry grew older, now at almost 13 years old he was starting to attract 'their' attention more and more and now he'd killed a Basilisk, this act would increase his 'Scent' enough that the Wards around Privet Drive wouldn't be able to conceal him anymore. Other arrangements would have to be made.

Opening a drawer on his desk Dumbledore retrieved a small brown sack which jingled when he placed it down on the mahogany surface and opened it revealing several gold coins inside. After waving his wand and muttering an incantation, a fine mist shot out of the tip like steam from a boiling kettle, instead of disappearing like steam does it settled over his desk.

"Oh goddess, accept my offering," Dumbledore chanted before casting a single gold coin into the mist which disappeared with a golden shimmer.

"United States, Long Island, Camp Half Blood, Chiron," Dumbledore recited as if reading an address off an envelope.

The mist shimmered and suddenly Dumbledore was looking into a room with wooden walls, Dean Martin music filled the air and a man with a brown beard sitting in a wheelchair was seen reading a book. The man didn't seem to notice Dumbledore looking at his through the magical window that had opened in thin air.

"Chiron my old friend," Dumbledore called to get his attention.

Chiron looked up from his book startled and noticed him for the first time, he smiled and placed the book down.

"Albus, good to see you again, if you've called to see if I have any new information I'm afraid I've still had no luck, the only monster I can find that petrifies is Medusa but her petrifaction is full stone," Chiron stopped as Dumbledore held up a hand.

"The matter has been resolved, the monster is dead, turned out to be a Basilisk," Dumbledore explained.

"A Basilisk!" Chiron asked, stunned. "I've never heard of a Basilisk's gaze petrifying anyone."

"It seems that everybody who has been petrified looked at it indirectly. In a reflection, thought a camera lens," Albus explained.

"Indeed? I assume you used a Rooster to kill it?" Chiron asked.

"Unfortunately not, that's why I've called you, the Basilisk was killed by Harry," Albus said gravely.

"That's not good, after killing a monster that powerful his scent will be overwhelming," Chiron muttered, almost to himself.

"Yes, which is why I can't send him back to his relatives… it's time for him to go to camp," Dumbledore said almost sadly.

"Albus, now may not be the best time for new campers," Chiron looked uncomfortable.

"Because of what happened during the Winter Solstice?" Dumbledore asked making Chiron's gaze snap back to his old friend.

"How?" Chiron asked simply.

"I know a Centaur who's dating a Dryad who's the cousin of an Aura who was on Olympus visiting her sister during the Solstice," Dumbledore answered with a shrug and a smile.

Chiron rolled her eyes before answering, "Well, then you know how suspicious it would be for new campers to be revealed right now."

"Chiron, we don't have any choice, Harry's true nature has started to reveal itself. Earlier this year he was attacked by an entire colony of Acromantula despite Hagrid's request that they don't harm my students… Harry won't survive the summer at his relatives. From now on he'll continue to attend Hogwarts throughout the year but he must spend the Summers at Camp Half-Blood. It's where he belongs."

"I hope you're sure about this Albus, once he's in camp there's no turning back, he'll fully embrace who he is and the monsters will never ignore him," Chiron warned.

"It's too late for that, Harry killed the Basilisk with this," Dumbledore said as he lifted a sword into view, it was silver, had jewel embedded in the hilt and the word Gryffindor engraved along the blade which was stained with black blood. Chiron grimaced.

"Goblin silver?" he asked.

"Yes, when Harry killed the Basilisk with this, it was the equivalent of him ringing a gong announcing his presence to every monster within five hundred miles. The beast was killed just over an hour ago and already the wards around the castle have alerted me to a pair of Lethifolds trying to get into the grounds and a Kelpie has appeared in the lake."

"Very well…" Chiron said with a sigh, "If you can arrange transport to New York I'll have a protector escort him the rest of the way."

"Thank you… now, how's the new half blood you've taken an interest in? Mr. Jackson was it?" Dumbledore asked.

"Not good, a few weeks ago he was attacked by one of the Furies, I may have to bring him to camp after the school year ends."

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Harry sat dumbfounded in front of the headmasters desk, an hour ago the rest of the students left on the Hogwarts Express. Dumbledore asked Harry to stay behind for a private meeting about his summer arrangements, what followed shattered Harry's reality. Dumbledore told him of Greek Gods, Monsters, Demigods and Camps.

"So, cliff notes, the Greek Gods are real, they sometimes have children with mortals, these children are called Demigods and I'm one of them?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Dumbledore answered.

"There's a summer camp in America where Demigods go for training in how to survive and you want me to go there instead of Private Drive?"

"Yes," Dumbledore answered.

"Have you been drinking?" Harry asked.

"I'm not drunk," Dumbledore answered.

"That's not what I asked,"

"I know," Dumbledore responded with a shrug.

Harry leant forward and pinched the bridge of his nose, "So, my parents aren't…" Harry didn't know how to phrase his next question.

Seeing Harry's discomfort Dumbledore sat forward.

"Harry, I don't know who your Godly parent is, but I can tell you that Lily Potter was pregnant with you so we can assume it was a male god, I can also tell you that James knew you were a demigod and he still loved you as his son," Dumbledore said kindly. Harry blinked away a few tears and replaced his glasses.

"So where do we go from here?" Harry asked.

"I'm not going to force you to go to the camp Harry, it's your choice,"

"Sir!" Harry interrupted him, "My decision was made the very instant you mentioned not returning to the Dursleys."

"Very good, I have a portkey already made to take you New York, someone from the camp will meet you there at 9 o'clock this morning," Dumbledore explained.

"Sir," Harry said with a frown. "It's already 1 o'clock… and what's a portkey?"

"You forget the time difference Harry, England is five hours ahead of New York. You can leave here at 2 o'clock and arrive in New York at 9 o'clock. A portkey is a form of magical transportation, it can transport you from one place to another almost instantly." Dumbledore explained and Harry nodded in understanding.

"Now, before you go we have a few things to do and a few things you have to know, first of all, you're free to use magic in America," Dumbledore revealed.

"What? But, the underage restrictions," Harry stuttered.

"Don't exist in America, there's no magical government over there. That's the territory of the Olympians, the International Confederation of Wizards know better than to impose their rules on the American supernatural world," Dumbledore said with a wince as he remembered the last member of the ICW who tried to establish a government of control in America.

"What if Muggles see me?" Harry asked worriedly, it was clear to Dumbledore however that Harry was excited about being able to use magic whenever he wanted.

"In America there is a magical force we call the Mist, it manipulates what Mortals see and remember when they come into contact with our world. A man who see's you using magic will simply see you waving a stick in a strange way, he won't see the spells… However, I fully expect you to show good judgment and be responsible with your magic," Dumbledore said sternly.

"Yes sir, anything else I should know?" Harry asked.

"Most of what you'll need to know will be taught at camp. There is one last thing we need to do before you leave, your spoils," Dumbledore said while standing up and walking around to Harry's side of the table.

"Spoils?" Harry asked.

"When monsters are killed they turn to dust and are sent to Tartarus, sometimes parts of them will be left behind as a 'Spoil of War', most of the time it's something small, a claw or a fang."

"But the Basilisk didn't turn to dust, it just died," Harry explained.

"That's because most of the outside of it's body is a Spoil. If you cut it open I think you'd find that most of it's organs have turned to dust. All that remains is the hide and skeleton, you need to decide what to do with it."

Harry furrowed his brow, he had no idea what to do with 50 feet of snake skin and bone.

"I have a suggestion Harry, if you're interested," Dumbledore offered. Harry looked up at him and waited for him to continue. "Sacrifice it."

"What!" Harry exclaimed with wide eyes.

"It never hurts to win a few points with your godly parent," Dumbledore said with a knowing smile. "Many demigods sacrifice their spoils of war to the Gods, more specifically their parent."

"How do I do it?" Harry asked.

"Take my arm," Dumbledore said extending his arm to Harry.

As soon as Harry touched the headmasters sleeve, Fawkes the Phoenix glided from his perch and latched it's talons onto Dumbledore's shoulder, in a flash of flames they were gone.

When Harry opened his eyes he was no longer in the Headmaster's office, he was back in the second worst place he'd ever visited (the first being the Dursleys). In front of him the corpse of the Basilisk laid exactly where he left it, he was slightly surprised that it hadn't started to rot after two weeks.

"Read this out loud," Dumbledore said as he held out a small piece of parchment.

Harry took the parchment and started reading.

"I, Harry James Potter, offer the remains of this Basilisk to my godly parent, whoever they may be," as soon as Harry finished reading, the snakes body was enveloped in a fiery white light, as the light died down the Basilisk was gone.

"Woah…" Harry said absently.

"Yes, the first time I made an offering I had a similar reaction," Dumbledore said as he took Harry's shoulder and Fawkes flames them both back up to Dumbledore's office.

Harry instinctively ran his hands through his hair, putting out small flames that weren't there. He stopped when he realized something.

"Sir, are you a Demigod?" Harry asked with wide eyes.

"Yes he is," a new voice filled the air, Harry spun around and reached to his pocket for his wand, standing by the door was a beautiful woman, dressed in a long black dress and high heeled shoes, her hair was black and curly.

"Hello Mother, what brings you here today?" Dumbledore asked.

"M-M-Mother?" Harry stuttered in shock.

"Not what you expected from a god am I?" she said with a grin as she walked past Harry and pulled Dumbledore into an awkward hug.

"You feel thin dear, you need to eat more meat and less sweets," the woman said as she separated from the headmaster, she clicked her fingers and the Sherbet Lemons on Dumbledore's desk disappeared leaving an empty bowl. Dumbledore let out a sigh as he sat back down.

"Harry, allow me introduce my mother, Hecate," Dumbledore said while staring longingly at the empty bowl.

"Hecate?" Harry asked curiously, he searched his memory trying to go over the Greek gods.

"Goddess of Witchcraft, Magic and patron goddess of all Witches, Wizards, Wiccans and Warlocks," the woman said as she snapped her fingers and sat on a chair that appeared beneath her. Another snap and three cups of tea appeared on the desk.

"I'm not surprised you don't know me. I'm a minor god, not as well known as the Olympians. Talking of the Olympians, I'm here on business, something very interesting happened a few minutes ago." Hecate said as she passed one of the cups to Harry and took one for herself.

"The Olympians were having a meeting concerning the… 'incident' that took place during the Winter Solstice, I was there for another reason on a different matter. Just as Ares was giving his annual speech as to why they should go to war with Canada, a fifty foot Basilisk appeared in the sky and fell on top of him."

Harry choked on his tea.

"A-Ares? God of war?" Harry asked looking a little scared.

"Indeed, you should have seen everyone's faces when it happened, Apollo and Hermes were on the ground laughing. Athena looked like her face was going to split open she was smiling so much. Hell even Zeus and Poseidon grinned for the first time in six months." Hecate said with a smile but it quickly turned into a frown.

"However, then the arguing started again, the Basilisk was obviously a sacrifice to one of the Olympians but they don't know which of their kids offered it, Ares claims it must be his since it landed on him. Zeus stopped the arguing, saying that they had enough to argue about already. He sent me find the Demigod who made the sacrifice and get his name for the Olympians." Hecate explained as she looked at Harry curiously.

"H-Harry Potter ma'am," Harry said very carefully, like if he forgot his manners she turn him into something unpleasant.

"Oh, Harry it's almost time," Dumbledore exclaimed as he spotted the time, he flicked his wand at Harry's trunk which was in the corner, it quickly shrunk. Almost knowing it was time to go, Hedwig glided through the open window and perched on Harry's arm.

"Ok Harry, here's the portkey and your trunk, don't forget what I told you about being responsible with your magic. I'll see you in September," Dumbledore said quickly as he thrust the trunk and a small marble in Harry's hand..

"I won't, thank you sir. It was nice meeting you ma'a…" before Harry could finish, the clock struck two and Harry disappeared in a swirl.

"Such a polite boy, certainly nothing like Ares. Well this was a pleasant visit, but I'm sure the Olympians are waiting for me. Take care of yourself dear, and for goodness sake have a shave," Hecate said before disappearing in a flash of light.

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Harry felt a hook on his belt and he was pulled away from Dumbledore's office, he was surrounded by swirling lights, after almost ten seconds the hook disappeared and he landed flat on his face on a dirty floor.

"Ohh, first Floo, now Portkeys," Harry groaned as he sat up and rubbed his sore nose. He wondered if there was a form of Magical Transportation that wouldn't end with him hitting the ground.

Searching his surrounding she found himself in a dirty alley, two trashcans were overflowing with rubbish and a rusty fire escape clung to the side of a wall with Hedwig perched on it's edge. Checking that he still had his shrunken trunk and wand in his pocket. He walked out of the alley into a huge sprawling city, Hedwig took to the sky. The first thing Harry noticed was the building in front of him, it was taller than any building he'd ever seen. The architecture was familiar, he'd seen it in several movies Dudley had watched. The Empire State Building.

Standing in front of the building was a young man, maybe 19 years old, he was wearing loose trousers and a green t-shirt, in one hand was a wooden crutch he was leaning on and in the other was a square piece of cardboard with the words '**Harry Potter**' written in black marker. The edge of the sign was missing, like somebody had taken a bite out of it.

As Harry approached him he noticed that he seemed to be nervous, looking over his shoulder and at the sky, like he was expecting something to swoop down and attack him.

"Hey," Harry greeted with a wave, the boy jumped so high he almost fell over.

"Blaa-ha-ha… d-don't sneak up on m-eeee!" he said with wide eyes. He'd said the word 'me' like a sheep bleating.

"Um, sorry. I'm Harry potter," Harry said with an outstretched hand.

"I'm B-B-Billy… can you p-please tell me the n-name of the man who s-sent you heeere?" Billy asked as he looked at Harry's outstretched hand nervously.

"Albus Dumbledore," Harry answered.

Billy seemed to accept this because he nodded and started to walk away after gesturing for Harry to follow him.

Harry followed Billy for five minutes before they came to a parked white van, printed on the side of the van was the name of a company. Delphi Strawberry Service. A man was sitting in the front seat rubbing his eyes, this as quite a feat seeing as he was covered in them, eyes covered his face, neck, arms and hands, those were the one's Harry could see.

"T-That's Argus, try not to st-stare at him," Billy said as they approached the van.

Harry got into the back of the van and sat on a large comfy seat that looked like it'd been ripped apart a dozen times and strapped back together again. When the van started moving a clinking sound drew Harry's attention, on the right side of the van was a rack filled with a dozen bronze weapons, a couple swords, an axe, a hammer, a pair of hedge clippers, several spears and a spork.

After hour later they were still driving, Billy and Argus didn't say anything to either him or each other, he didn't even know if Argus had a mouth. Harry started thinking about the camp and what it would be like, when he'd started Hogwarts he'd been a nervous mess, not knowing what he was getting into, now here he was almost two years later going through it again.

After a while Harry started to get tired, he figured it had something to do with the time difference between England and America, Portkey lag, or something. He laid back into the seat and quickly fell asleep.

_In the dream, Harry was back in the Chamber of Secrets, the Basilisk reared back opening it's mouth. Harry looked down, instead of the Sword of Gryffindor he was holding a bronze spork. Past the Basilisk was a girl laying on the ground, but it wasn't Ginny Weasley, this girl had short black hair and a spatter of freckles across her nose. Her head turned and she looked at him with electric blue eyes._

"_Child of the Tides… brace yourself!" she said._

_Harry looked back at the Basilisk, it had changed, it was smaller and it's scales were now sickly yellow and had golden eyes, just as it lunged at him and the world around him shook._

Harry's eyes snapped open as the van was slammed onto it's side, the weapons in the rack came loose, one of the spears missing Harry's face by an inch.

"W-What's happening?" Harry cried out loud. Argus was fumbling with his door and Billy was hitting the windshield with his crutch trying to smash it.

"W-W-We're b-being attacked!" Billy cried out

Something slammed into the van again and Harry understood what it was like to be in a washing machine, the van tumbled over and over again like it was being rolled downhill, the weapons made an awful noise as they clattered around as well. When the spinning stopped Harry tried to get back to his feet, then the ceiling buckled, the left and right sides started moving towards him and the floor of the van moved upwards, it was like a giant elastic band had been wrapped around the van so tight it was cutting it in half, Billy and Argus were in the front half and Harry was in the back. Harry heard a smashing sound followed by a loud hissing and a voice shrieking.

'MEAT!'

Harry spun around and saw a snake's head poking through a smashed window, it wasn't as big as the Basilisk by a long shot but it was just as terrifying, it's scales were a sickly yellow color and it's eyes were golden, the snake from his dream. Harry didn't have time to process his shock as the snake snapped at him, Harry stumbled backwards way from it's teeth and yelped as he landed on something sharp. Thinking maybe it was one of the swords, Harry reached back and grabbed it hoping for a weapon to defend himself, unfortunately his hopes were shattered when he found himself holding the spork.

The snake lunged at him, he had nowhere to go, there was now a barrier of twisted metal between him and the front of the van, so he did the only thing he could, he swung the 'weapon' sideways, and by some miracle, it hit it's mark. The snake pulled it's head back screeching in pain, a bronze spork sticking out of it's right eye. It's head pulled back so fast that the back door of the van ripped off it's hinges and disappeared with the snake. Seeing a way out into the open Harry rushed forward and jumped into the afternoon sun.

Harry scrambled away from the van for a few moments before turning around, he now understood why the van was crushed. The snakes body was very long, it had wrapped around the body of the van several times and constricted around it, crushing it. They were in a grassy area, maybe 30 yards from the road where the car had obviously been driving before the snake attacked.

"P-P-Python!" Billy shouted loudly in panic, he and Argus had managed to smash out the front window and escaped the van.

"A Python?" Harry asked in confusion, he wasn't an expert in snakes, but this didn't look like any normal snake.

"No! Not A Python, THE Python, the snake killed by Apollo!" Billy shouted as he held his crutch up like a club. Argus had retrieved one of the bronze spears and was jabbing at Python as it flailed around trying to dislodge the spork.

Harry patted his pockets trying to find his wand, he must have lost it when the van was tumbling.

Python stopped flailing around and it's one good eye locked onto Harry, with a hiss of anger it knocked Argus aside with it's tail and rushed towards Harry, unraveling from the crushed van in the process. Harry dodged to the side and Python's mouth bit the grassy ground.

Doing something stupid that he hadn't done since the troll incident, Harry jumped on Pythons neck just below it's head and grabbed the Spork still sticking out of it's eye.

Python reared back and screeched in pain again, it thrashed side to side and back and forth, Harry tried to keep it's grip on the snake with his left arm while gripping the spork with his right hand.

'Eat you! EAT YOU!' Python screamed in angry words that only Harry could hear. In one strong buck the Spork came loose and Harry flew through the air away from Python.

Harry landed with a grunt and rolled with the force of the landing, still grasping the blood splattered spork.

Another screech filled the air, this one sounded different however. Harry looked up and saw Hedwig, his snowy white owl flapping around Python's head trying to scratch out it's remaining eye. Python turned it's head and snapped at her, missing by centimeters, Hedwig backed off and flew higher trying to stay out of the snake's reach.

Python turned his attention back to Harry and without a moment of hesitation lunged at him, Harry tried moving back but his back slammed into a tree he hadn't know was there. Python was a inch away from his face when it dropped to the ground. Harry looked over and saw that Argus had stabbed his spear through Python's tail, effectively pinning it to the ground. Python turned and bared it's teeth at Argus, it was getting frustrated at being kept from it's prey.

What happened next took less than ten seconds, Python rushed towards Argus and quickly encircled him twice wrapping him in it's scales and started squeezing. Harry's eyes widened, he'd seen what Python had done to the van, metal. Argus was flash and blood, he wouldn't last nearly as long. After only a few seconds Argus' eyes rolled up into the back of his head, arm, hands, shoulder… you get the point.

Argus saved his life a few seconds ago, Harry rushed forwards shouting as Python.

"LET HIM GO!" Harry didn't know if he shouted in English or Parseltongue but Python turned his attention back to him, once again snake lashed out at him. This time Harry didn't move, he didn't dodge, he didn't back away. With perfect aim he thrust his hand forward still holding the spork.

The spork entered python's mouth and pierced the roof of his mouth penetrating the brain and froze, Harry felt pain in his arm just below the wrist and one of Python's fangs pierced through it. The situation felt horribly familiar, this time however he didn't have a phoenix to heal him.

Python turned to golden dust and blew away in the wind, Argus dropped from the snakes grasp and stumbled to his feet.

"You ok?" Harry asked. Argus responded with thumbs up and a nod.

Harry felt faint, the spork in his hand was horribly bent and one of the prongs had snapped off.

"Y-You killed it?" Billy said in shock as he came out of his hiding place behind the crushed van. "You killed P-P-Python… with a spork?" he said in shock.

Argus gave Billy a glare, from a man practically made of eyes it had quite an effect.

"D-Don't look at me like that, what w-was I supposed to d-do?" Billy said defending himself.

Argus rolled his eyes, all of them, it looked very strange to Harry. Almost like a Mexican wave Gryffindor fans performed at quidditch matches.

Harry's eyes went down to Billy's legs, at first he thought he was hallucinating, he saw goats legs with hooves. Harry's mind immediately went to a book he read in primary school, 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.'

"You're a Faun?" Harry asked groggily.

"Bla-ha-ha! SATYR!" Billy yelled after bleating. Argus' chest heaved like he was laughing.

The poison finally got to Harry, he fell to his knees and everything went dark.

"Ok Styx, he's b-bitten!" was the last thing Harry heard before he lost consciousness.

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Harry slowly woke up with the taste of treacle in his mouth. He was laying on a soft bed, above him was a girl with blond hair and stormy grey eyes. She was holding a bowl of some kind of porridge.

"W-Who are you?" Harry mumbled, his throat felt dry and raspy.

"Don't try to talk. You were almost dead when Argus brought you in, you need to rest," the girl said before spooning some of the porridge into his mouth, Harry lost consciousness again as he swallowed the treacle flavor porridge.

When Harry awoke again he was laying in a hammock on a porch of a large farmhouse. Harry looked up and found himself looking over a green meadow, the smell of strawberries filled the air.

"How do you feel?" a voice asked, Harry turned over to look at who'd spoken, it was a man with a scruffy beard, thinning hair and wore a tweed suit, he was sat in a wheelchair.

"Like I fought a snake… again, and got bitten, again…" Harry groaned as he felt his throbbing head.

"Might I suggest drinking that," the man said as he pointed at a glass of golden liquid on a small table next to Harry, also on the table was his shrunken trunk and wand. With his dry throat Harry was happy to have something to quench his thirst.

He raised the glass to his lips and took a sip, he almost recoiled, with the color of the liquid he'd been expecting apple juice, but the liquid tasted like butterscotch, just like a drink Mrs. Weasley had given him last summer, Butterbeer. Harry gulped down half the glass in a few seconds and replaced the glass on the table.

"Better?" the man asked. Harry frowned, his headache had disappeared while drinking.

"Yes, thank you," Harry said with a nod.

"You gave us quite a scare Harry, when Billy and Argus brought you over the property line you were barely breathing. Oh, how rude of me, I haven't introduced myself," the man wheeled forward and held out a hand.

"I'm Chiron, Activities Director here at the camp," he introduced himself as Harry took his hand.

"Harry Potter," Harry replied.

"Please, walk with me Mr. Potter," Chiron turned around and wheel towards the corner of the farmhouse, Harry followed him after pocketing his trunk and wand, having been without it during the fight with Python he felt it best to keep it on him from now on.

"Is Argus ok? Python almost," Harry asked in concern.

"He's fine Harry, he expressed his gratitude towards you for saving his life," Chiron said with a smile.

"He saved mine first," Harry said with a shrug.

As Harry and Chiron reached the other side of the farmhouse Harry suck in a gasp of astonishment. A valley stretched out in front of him and a large river, the Long island sound he guessed, about a mile away. From this viewpoint Harry could see most of the came, the landscape was dotted with several Greek buildings, an open air pavilion, an amphitheater, an arena, there was also a volleyball court, an archery range, stables surrounded with winged horses, a lake with several canoes and a group of smaller buildings all different colors and placed in a way that shaped an inverted 'U'.

"It's always like that the first time you see it," a girls voice said, Harry turned and saw the blond girl who'd fed him treacle porridge when he first woke up, she was stroking a familiar white owl.

"Hedwig!" Harry said with a smile, he'd been worried when Python snapped at her. Hedwig spread her wings and flew to him, landing on his arm.

"You ok?" Harry asked her while stroking her.

Hedwig let out a little screech and nipped at the white bandage around his wrist.

"I'll be fine," Harry assured with a smile.

The girl smiled at the interaction between Harry and Hedwig.

"Harry this is Annabeth, she looked after you while you were sick," Chiron introduced.

"Thank you," Harry said with a smile, Annabeth answered with a shrug.

"It seems to be all I'm doing these days," she said in an annoyed tone confusing Harry.

"Another Demigod arrived here a few days ago injured when the Minotaur attacked him, Annabeth nursed him back to health too, he woke up a few hours ago," Chiron explained.

"Now, let's get you settled into the camp, Annabeth, if you would show Harry to cabin eleven please?" Chiron asked. Annabeth nodded and gestured to Harry to follow her.

"Oh and Harry," Chiron called to get his attention.

Harry turned back to Chiron to see him standing up out of his chair, only he was leaving his legs behind, as if the chair was magically expanded a horses body emerged from the wheelchair and stepped forward with Chiron's upper body attached to it where the head should be, Chiron was a Centaur.

"Welcome to Camp Half-Blood."

**To Be Continued…**


	2. II: Mars is Bright, His Children Are Not

**Harry Potter & the Olympians : Tides of War**

II: Mars is Bright, His Children Are Not

Harry followed Annabeth down to the multicolored buildings placed in an inverted 'U', they were cabins, twelve of them. Each one was unique, one was solid gold while another was silver, one had vines creeping up the sides and had grass on the roof. Another was bright red, with fist patterns along the sides, barbed wire lining the roof and a stuffed boar's head over the door. The cabins surrounded a common area with statues a fountain and a bonfire even though it was hot outside, a small girl maybe 8 or 9 sat by it poking the hot coals with a stick.

The cabin they approached was the first one on the left row and the only one that looked like a regular summer camp cabin. The threshold was worn down with brown paint peeling off, above the door was a wined pole with two snakes wrapped around it making Harry a little nervous.

The cabin was packed with people, both boys and girls, there were bunks beds along the walls and the floor was covered with sleeping bags.

"Regular or undetermined?" someone shouted from the back of the cabin shouted, Harry couldn't tell who.

"Undetermined," Annabeth answered, the entire cabin groaned.

Someone stepped forward who looked older than the others, he kinda reminded Harry of Oliver Wood. He was almost 19, had short sandy hair and a thick white scar running from under his right eye down to his jaw.

"Two one day huh? I'm Luke," the boy said as he held out his hand, Harry took it immediately.

"Harry," he replied.

"Luke will be your counselor, until you're determined," Annabeth's voice was higher than normal and her cheeks had darkened, Harry had seen the signs a dozen times this past year from Ginny Weasley. Annabeth had a huge crush on Luke.

"You ok Annabeth? You're looking a little flushed," Harry asked with a small smirk. Annabeth shot a glare at Harry.

"Anyway, what did you mean undetermined?" Harry asked wanting to change the subject before Annabeth throttled him.

"Each cabins belong to one of the twelve Olympians, kids are live in the cabin belonging to their parent, this is the Hermes cabin" Luke explained.

Harry's eyebrows raised as he turned and looked at the small sea of kids in the cabin.

"Hermes has been busy," Harry uttered making Luke snort.

"Nah, we don't know who's kid you are yet, hence 'undetermined'. All the undetermined kids stay in the Hermes cabin 'cause he's the god of travelers. Your dad might send a sign claiming you as his kid and then you can move into his cabin, until then you'll stay here." Luke explained.

'Might' this word stuck in Harry's mind, many of the kids here looked like they'd been there for a long time.

Annabeth took Harry back outside to the common area. When they were outside Annabeth gave Harry a quick punch on the arm, not hard enough to leave a mark but certainly hard enough for Harry to feel it. Guess she was still sore about his comment.

"So, what do think of the camp so far?" Annabeth asked.

"It's great, but I can't help but feel like this is all a dream. Gods, giant snakes, guys covered in eyes… then again I thought the same thing two years ago when I started Hogwarts," Harry answered.

"Hogwarts, the magic school right? Chiron told me about it," Annabeth asked.

"Yeah, I started there when I turned eleven, I'm gonna be spending most of the year there and summers here," Harry said with a smile.

"Won't you miss your family?" Annabeth asked.

"No," Harry said without a moments hesitation, "Not even in the slightest." Harry said it in a way that made it clear to Annabeth that he didn't want to speak about it.

They approached a boy who was sitting by the lake, several long haired girls were waving at him from the lake like he was an old friend, the boy waved awkwardly back at them.

"Don't encourage them," Annabeth told him as they approached, "Naiads are terrible flirts."

The boy turned to face them, he had black hair and green eyes like Harry but that's where the similarities end.

"Harry, this is Percy Jackson, he's the other camper who recently arrived," Annabeth introduced them. "Percy, this is Harry Potter."

Harry and Percy quickly hit it off, they were both new to the camp so they could understand how strange and new the camp was. The three slowly walked back up to the cabins commen area talking about how strange the camp was, they were interrupted by a loud husky voice.

"Well! A pair of newbies," they all turned to see a big, tough looking girl with long, stringy brown hair. She wore an orange 'Camp Half Blood' t-shirt that Harry had seen many of the campers wearing and a camouflage jacket. She was flanked by four other girls all as big and mean looking and dressed in camo jackets.

"Clarisse," Annabeth sighed. "Why don't you go polish your spear or something?"

"Sure Miss Princess, so I can run you through with it Friday night." the girl replied with a sneer.

"Who're the runts?" she asked.

"Harry Potter, Percy Jackson," Annabeth said, "meet Clarisse, Daughter of Ares."

"Like… like the war god?" Percy asked.

"Got a problem with that?" Clarisse asked with a sneer.

"No, it explains the bad smell," he replied cockily.

Clarisse looked thoughtful for a moment, 'Don't strain yourself' Harry thought, he figured it wouldn't be wise to say that out loud.

"Wait, Potter?" Clarisse asked with a glare at Harry. "So you're the one! I don't know what you did but Dad left us very clear orders about you!" the girls behind started cracking their knuckles. Annabeth was shocked at this, orders from their father?

"Harry what did you do?" she asked quietly.

"Well, technically I uh, kinda dropped a fifty foot Basilisk on top of him during a meeting between the Olympians," Harry said as he tried not to sweat. Annabeth's eyes widened in shock and horror. "It was an accident," Harry quickly added.

The Ares girls rushed forward, two of them grabbed Harry by the arms as he tried to grab his wand from his pocket, Clarisse grabbed Percy in a strong headlock.

"We have in initiation ceremony for newbies, you get to go first Prissy, then Pot-head and his will be far worse, you should be grateful," she said as she started dragging Percy towards a cinderblock building that had 'Toilets' written above the entrance followed by the girls holding Harry.

"Clarisse," Annabeth tried to say.

"Stay out of it wise girl, or you'll get the same treatment!" Clarisse growled.

In the bathroom was a line of toilets on one wall and showers on the other, Clarisse immediately pulled Percy to the first toilet, bent him onto his knees and pushed his head towards it.

Annabeth was stood in one corner looking through her fingers. Harry struggled against the girls grip trying to help Percy but the girls had a strong grip.

Suddenly it happened, water exploded out of the toilet, jeered around Percy's head and smashed into Clarisse's face, shoving her down onto her arse. The girls holding onto Harry loosened their grip in surprise, Harry quickly shoved his hand into his pocket and grabbed his wand.

"Rictusempra!" Harry snapped, the girl to his right bent over and started laughing uncontrollably, holding her stomach. "Tarantellegra!" the second girl started dancing uncontrollably.

The remaining two girls rushed towards Clarisse trying to help her, that's when the bathroom exploded, water shot from oll of the toilets and rushed to every corner of the room.

"Protego!" Harry cried with an upward slash, a blue translucent shield covered him just as the water would have hit him. Clarisse and the four other girls were pushed out of the bathroom by the water like pieces of rubbish in a gutter.

Percy stood up and the shield around Harry disappeared, the entire bathroom was soaked, the only dry spots were around Harry thanks to his shield and around Percy. Annabeth hadn't been spared the torrent, she was completely soaked and staring at them both in shock.

"How did you…" Annabeth's question trailed off.

The three walked to the door. Outside Clarisse and her friend were sprawled in the mud, a couple dozen other campers had gathered around to gawk, especially at the girl who was still laughing in the mud and the girl who had made it to her feet and was currently dancing.

Clarisse's hair was flattened over her face, her cloths dripping wet and she smelled like sewage.

"You, both of you are dead! So totally dead!"

Percy was about to say something but Harry beat his too it.

"Scorgify!" Harry said stabbing his wand at her mouth. Clarisse tried to say something else but just coughed up bubbles. Two of her friends held her back by the arms and dragged her to the bright red cabin, the whole time she was shouting at them and spitting up bubbles. Two more helped the laughing and the dancing girl to the cabin.

Annabeth stared at them both.

"What?" Percy asked. "What're you thinking?"

"I'm thinking… I want you both on my team for capture the flag.

V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W

Annabeth spent the next hour showing Harry and Percy around the camp.

"I have training to do, dinner is at seven thirty, just follow your cabin up to the pavilion," Annabeth disappeared into cabin six (Athena). Harry and Percy were alone. They made their way back towards the Hermes cabin, Harry explained to Percy about his magic, and how he made the Ares girls dance and laugh. When they were in the cabin they were approached by Luke holding a pair of sleeping bags.

"Percy, Harry, I see you've met. I managed to get hold of a couple of sleeping bags for you," Luke said and passed them the rolled up bags. The three sat down and started talking, soon the topic turned to their godly parents, Luke seemed bitter when he talked about his father.

"You know Harry, Travis and Conner have started a poll on you," Luke said with a smile and he sipped on a glass of water. Travis and Conner Stoll reminded Harry strongly of Fred and George. They were twins and pranksters.

"A poll?" Harry asked in confusion.

"Yeah, on who your parent is. Some think it's Athena because you have an owl, which is her sacred animal. Some think it's Hecate because of your magic. Some think it's Zeus because of the lightning bolt scar you have," Luke whispered the last part and Harry heard thunder outside which made Luke wince.

"What's wrong with it being Zeus?" Harry said and thunder boomed again.

"Around sixty years ago after world war two, the big three, Zeus, Poseidon and Hades, swore on the river Styx not to have anymore children with mortals, they were just too powerful and altered the course of human history too much. World War Two was basically a war between the children of Hades and his brothers kids," Luke explained while trying the ignore the rumbling.

"That's why some of the cabins are empty," Harry realized, while walking around the common area he had noticed that four of the cabins were completely untouched, they were empty and looked as if they'd never been used.

"Some of them, the Zeus and Poseidon cabins are," Luke said with a nod.

"and Hades?" Harry asked

"Hades doesn't have a cabin here, the one next to Zeus' cabin belongs to Hera but it's purely honorary, she's the goddess of marriage so she doesn't go around having affairs with mortals," Luke answered.

"And the silver one?"

"Artemis, she's a virgin goddess, vowed to remain a maiden forever so again, no kids."

"Well, whoever bet on Athena or Hecate are out of luck, I know my Mom was pregnant with me so my godly parent has to be a man… Wait… if Zeus made a vow not to have kids, why are some people betting I'm his?" Harry asked, it didn't make sense.

"Well… almost eighteen years ago he broke the oath, met a singer that he couldn't resist and had a little girl called Thalia. Five years ago she was being brought to the camp when she was attacked, just before she died her dad turned her into a tree which now protects the camp with it's magic," Luke looked out the window up to a large pine tree atop a hill on the borders of camp.

Harry could have sworn Luke looked at the tree with sadness, before he could ask him about it a loud horn echoed around the camp.

"Dinner time," Luke explained. "Cabin Eleven, fall in!"

Everyone followed Luke out of the cabin and up to the pavilion along with the other cabins, a dozen Satyrs, the Driads that had been waving at Percy and Wood Nymphs that seemed to melt out of several of the trees. For the first time Harry saw all of the campers, there were maybe a hundred of them.

The pavilion glowed in the sunset, each pillar held burning torches, in the center was a roaring fire in a brazier the size of a bathtub. Each cabin had their own table, covered in a white cloth, four of the tables were empty and cabin elevens table was overcrowded.

Chiron was there too, he stomped one of his hoof loudly to get everyone's attention. He raised his glass. "To the gods!"

Everyone else raised their glasses and repeated after him, Harry and Percy were the only ones who didn't.

Wood Nymphs came into view holding trays of food, fruit, cheese, fish and an assortment of barbeque.

Luke got Harry and Percy's attention. "Speak to your glass, whatever you want - non alcoholic though."

Percy went first he picked up his glass and cautiously said "Cherry coke." The glass filled with sparkling caramel liquid. Then he had a thought and said, "Blue Cherry Coke." the drink turned blue and Percy smiled.

Harry took his glass and said, "Butterbeer," the glass filled with a brown misty liquid.

"Beer? How did you get that?" Luke asked in disbelief making the entire table look Harry's way.

"Butterbeer, it doesn't have any alcohol," Harry defended himself as he took a drink.

Luke looked at the drink curiously and picked up his own glass, "Butterbeer." he tried a sip and then gulped down half the glass in a few seconds. "That's delicious, tastes like Butterscotch."

Most of the table ordered their own glass of Butterbeer and started talking about it, soon the other tables got in on the action (Except the Ares table for some reason).

Before anybody started eating, everyone stood up with their plates and made their way to the center fire, Luke gestured for Percy and Harry to follow him. One by one the campers started taking a portion of their meal and dropping it into the fire.

"Offerings to the gods, they like the smell," Luke said as he dropped a cluster of fat grapes into the fire and muttered, "Hermes."

Percy stepped forward and thought for a moment, then scraped a big slice of brisket into the fire. Harry stepped forward and picked up an apple that was on his plate.

'Not as impressive as a Basilisk… whoever you are,' Harry thought as he dropped the apple into the fire which quickly burnt up. When they returned to their tables and finished eating Chiron stomped his hoof again to get everyone's attention.

A man sitting at table twelve stood up with a loud sigh. He was a big man with a trimmed bear, black hair and wearing a leopard pattern shirt. His nose was a little red.

"That's Mr. D, he runs the camp with Chiron," Luke whispered to Harry.

"Yes, I suppose I'd better say hello to you brats. Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron, says the next capture the flag is Friday. Cabin five currently holds the laurels." the man said in a bored tone.

Clarisse and her friends cheered from the Ares table.

"Personally," Mr. D continued. "I couldn't care less, but congratulations. Also, I should tell you that we have two new campers today. Peter Johnson and Harvey Potts."

Chiron murmured something to him.

"Er, Percy Jackson and Harry Potter," Mr. D corrected. "That's right. Hurrah, and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on."

Everybody cheered the campers made their way to the amphitheatre where the kids from the Apollo cabin led a sing along. Everyone but Percy and Harry sung since they didn't know the words to any of the songs, so they sat there toasting marshmallows.

Later in the evening when the campfire was going out, a horn sounded again indicating bedtime, the campers filed into their cabins and got into bed, (and sleeping bags for the Hermes cabin).

An hours later Harry was still awake, he figured it was portkey lag again. Or it cold be that I was cramped, hot and every time he tried to stretch he'd end up almost hitting another camper. With a sigh Harry stood up and rolled up his sleeping bag, tiptoeing around the sleeping campers he walked out of the cabin and into the common area. The laid down next to the campfire which seemed to be roaring 24/7 and used his sleeping bag as a pillow, he looked up at the stars.

"Hello," a soft voice startled him, Harry looked over and saw a the same young girl poking the fire as he'd seen that afternoon, he hadn't noticed her sitting there before.

"Hi," Harry said lamely. "Shouldn't you be in bed?" Harry asked the girl.

"Shouldn't you?" she asked back. Harry just now realized how hypocritical he'd sounded.

"Heh, I guess so, sorry," Harry said with a grin. "I'm Harry," he said with an outstretched hand.

The girl took it. "Hestia."

"So, why are you out here instead of the warm cabin?" Hestia asked.

"Too cramped, I like my space," Harry answered honestly, ever since he'd moved out of the cupboard under the stairs at Privet Drive he'd hated being cramped without room to stretch. It wasn't quite claustrophobia but it still bugged him. After looking at the stars for almost half an hour he slowly slipped into a sleep.

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The next few days Harry settled into a routine. During the mornings he learned Ancient Greek with Percy from Annabeth. As it turns out all demigods have a natural talent in reading Ancient Greek. The rest of the day they'd rotate through outdoor activities. Harry wasn't good at horseback riding, wrestling, metalwork, gardening, in fact he sucked at almost everything. He was decent at canoeing but that was mainly thanks to Percy's help. Harry surprised everyone when he beat the Wood Nymph instructors at foot racing, which made them pout at him all day.

Then he found something he enjoyed, Archery. Chiron walked him through all the steps, he grabbed an arrow from the quiver strapped to his waist. He held the wooden bow and, like he'd done it a hundred times, drew the arrow back. He took aim at the target and let the arrow loose, the arrow pierced the very center of the target. Harry's eyes were wide in shock, he hadn't actually expected to hit the target, let alone the center.

The Apollo kids looked at Harry with slight smiles on their faces, their dad was the god of Archery so they all had natural skill with a bow.

"Harry, try that again," Chiron said in an impressed tone.

Harry retrieved another arrow and drew it back. Everyone was watching, especially the Apollo kids. Harry fired the arrow aiming for the center again. The first arrow split into four quarters as the second arrow struck it and hit the target in the exact same spot. The Apollo kids were cheering and patting Harry on the back. Several of them were asking Chiron if he could move into their cabin. The rest of them had run off to the Stoll brothers to put a bet down on Apollo.

"His father has not claimed him," Chiron said with a shake of his head.

"He's perfect with a bow and Python attacked him, who else's son could he be?" one of the campers asked. While this was going on Harry was staring at the target he'd hit, wondering if Apollo was really his father.

On Thursday Luke taught Percy and Harry how to use a sword. After they learned the basics the two learners spent most of the day sparring. Then the next day Harry tried the climbing wall for the first time, the lava running down the wall unnerved him a little. That afternoon he had a little encounter with Clarisse. She bumped into him and he felt her hand in his pocket, when she jumped away from him she was holding his wand aloft.

"Father's orders still stand, you need to be made an example of. Hope you're looking forward to Capture the Flag later, I know I am" she said with a sneer.

"Give that back, now!" Harry said angrily holding out a hand.

"Not so tough without your little stick are you?" she asked with a sneer as she held the wand in both hands in a way that looked like she was about to snap it. Seeing Harry's distress she held it up. "Go and get it!"

Clarisse threw it, the wand flew through the air towards the roof of the Ares cabin, to get it back Harry would have to somehow back over the barbed wire not to mention the rumored mine field surrounding the cabin. Clarisse's plan was ruined however by a white blur that swooped through the air and caught the wand, Hedwig flew overhead and dropped it into Harry's hand.

"Levicorpus!" Harry snapped, Clarisse suddenly flipped upside down and hung in the air like her feet were caught in a vine trap.

"Don't ever touch my wand again," with that warning in place, Harry walked away, leaving Clarisse's cabin mates to try and get her down. Some of the campers ran to the Stoll brothers to put a bet on Athena.

That night after dinner it was time for capture the flag. After they finished dinner campers cheered as Annabeth and two of her siblings ran into the pavilion carrying a silk banner, it was about three meters long with a painting of a barn owl over an olive tree. On the opposite side Clarisse and her buddies ran in holding a red banner with a painting of a bloody spear and a boars head.

"Athena and Ares leads the teams?" Harry asked Luke.

"Not always, but often. Don't worry, we're not of Ares' side. For this match Hermes has made an alliance with Athena and Apollo. We'll be against Ares, Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus."

Harry knew this was fair, Hermes cabin had more than twice the amount of campers than the other cabins and Apollo was second biggest.

"HEROES!" Chiron announced, "You know the rules. The creek is the boundary the entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed but not bound or gagged. No killing, or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!" he spread his arms and the tables were suddenly covered in with equipment: helmets, swords, spears, shields. Thankfully, no sporks.

"Whoa, we're really supposed to use these?" Percy asked. Luke looked at him as if he were crazy.

"Unless you want to be skewered by your friends in cabin three, yeah, I'd recommend it."

Harry felt like he was suiting up for a quidditch game, instead of the heavy bronze armor everyone were strapping to themselves, Harry found a few pieces of leather armor that looked like the things he wore for his matches to protect him from bludgers but allow him to move freely. He quickly strapped the armor on, covering his forearms, shoulders, chest, back and legs. When it came to weapons he immediately grabbed a bow and a quiver filled with arrows.

"Hmm, maybe I should put a bet down on Apollo," Luke mused out loud. "If you're not wearing a helmet you'll need to wear this," Luke passed him a stretchy blue sweatband.

Harry looked around and noticed that all of the helmets had either a blue or red plume to indicate which team you were on.

"Blue team forward!" Annabeth called out, the team cheered and followed her down the path to the south woods. Harry quickly wrapped the band on his left arm, strapped the quiver to his back and followed them. The red team shouted taunts at them as they made their own way into the north woods. As they set up the banner and started assigning campers to tasks, a thought came to Harry, Chiron had said 'All magical items were permitted'. a smirk came to Harry's face.

"What?" Luke asked, seeing Harry's face.

Harry didn't answer, he dug into his pocket and retrieved his trunk, after tapping it with his wand it grew to full size, opening it he rummaged around for a minute before he found what he was looking for. His broom and his cloak.

"What're those?" Luke asked.

Harry mounted his broom and kicked off the ground making his team gasp.

"A magic wand, now a flying broomstick, Harry you are such a stereotype. What's next, a cauldron?" Connor Stoll asked with a grin.

Harry threw his cloak over himself leaving only his head uncovered.

"Oh, this is so cool!" Travis exclaimed.

"Need a scout?" Harry asked.

Luke gave instructions for Harry to fly over the enemy territory, find the flag and report back. Harry covered his head and flew north, as he did he could have sword Annabeth say, "I was turning invisible before it was cool!"

"Harry flew overhead and found he could see everything, he quickly found the flag guarded by a burly Hephaestus kid and one of Clarisse's sisters. After memorizing where it was he flew back to the south, he spotted Luke and a few others approaching the boundary between the north and south woods.

"Luke," Harry called and threw the cloak off his head. "The flag is straight ahead maybe 500 meters."

"What's the layout of the red team?"

"The flag is guarded by one of the Hephaestus kids and an Ares kid, most of the team is waiting for you dead ahead, to the east are another small group, Clarisse is with them heading for the creek, the west is guarded by Aphrodite girls but they seem to be distracted, looking at their reflections in a pond and trying to sort their hair."

Luke seemed to be thinking for a moment.

"Harry, how fast are you on that thing?" Luke asked. Harry smirked.

"Very," Harry said with confidence, if there was one thing he was proud and certain of, it was his skill on a broom.

"Ok, we're going to cause a distraction with the bulk of the red team, can you get behind their territory and grab the flag?" Luke asked.

Harry agreed with the plan, he gave his cloak to Luke to hang onto since he wouldn't be able to hang onto it and grab the flag at the same time.

Harry flew high overhead and back to the flag, he lowered out of sight and waited for the signal.

A few minutes later a loud commotion came from the wood to the south, metal clashing against metal and shouting.

"Now!" Harry muttered. He leaned forward and burst out of the foliage, before the two guards knew what was happening Harry grasped the banner, tugged it out of the ground and flew south quickly gliding over the treetops. The guards cursing at him the whole time. Harry pulled a whistle out of his armor and blew on it loudly, it was a signal to Luke to pull back.

Below him the Blue team broke off the battle and ran back to the south woods. The red team started cheering thinking that they'd drove the enemy back, they didn't even realize they'd lost their flag.

Harry looked up ahead and frowned, he saw Clarisse at the creek fighting Percy and winning, her friend surrounded him, for a moment Harry wondered why the hell he was alone there.

"Luke!" Harry called from above, Luke looked up just as Harry let go of the banner, Luke caught it and without a question continued to ran towards their own flag. he knew Harry mast have had a reason not to carry it all the way. Harry flew full speed towards the fight just as Clarisse knocked Percy back into the creek. Harry landed and quickly placed his broom against a tree before rushing forward with his bow in hand.

Harry draw back an arrow and without hesitation let it fly, the tips of the arrows were blunt so he knew they wouldn't kill, the arrow struck the hilt of the sword one of the Ares kids were holding, he yelped and dropped the blade into the creek just as Percy burst up from the water and slammed the blunt of his sword into another campers helmet to hard it flew off. Harry fired another arrow, it hit ugly number two's knee and made him fall to the ground in pain, Percy knocked another one away with his shield and sheared off his red plume with his sword. Finally Clarisse charged at Percy with her spear, Percy caught the tip of the spear between the top of his shield and the flat of his sword and snapped the spear like a twig.

"You idiot!" she screamed in anger. "You corpse-breath worm!"

Having enough of her insults and attitude Harry readied another arrow and let it fly, it struck Clarisse's breastplate so hard that the wood shattered, she fell back into the water coughing.

Suddenly there was cheering all around them, Luke ran into view holding the red banner and heading towards the boundary line. A couple of his brothers and half a dozen Apollo kids were covering his retreat.

"A trick, it was a trick!" Clarisse shouted as she and her cabin mates stumbled to her feet and staggered after Luke. It was too late, everybody converged on the creek as Luke ran across into friendly territory. The blue team exploded into cheers as the red banner shimmered and changed to a silver one with a painting of the winged staff with two snakes, the Hermes symbol.

Everybody picked up Luke onto their shoulders and carried him around.

Chiron appeared out of the woods and blew his horn, the game was over, the blue team had won.

"Nat bad, heroes," a voice came from next to Harry and Percy, "How did you both learn to fight like that?" the air shimmered and Annabeth appeared taking off a baseball cap that had obviously made her invisible.

"You set me up!" Percy accused. "You put me here so Clarisse would come after me while you sent Luke around to flank."

"That was the plan, I was going to have Harry with you but he turned out to be a pretty good scout instead, I was about to help you but then Harry swooped in to help," Annabeth said with a shrug.

Suddenly the celebrating stopped when a loud howl echoed through the woods followed by a loud growling.

"Stand ready! My bow!" Chiron shouted.

There, on the rocks above them stood a black hound the size of a rhino, it red eyes glaring at them and dagger sized fangs bared. It wasn't nearly as big as fluffy but it unnerved Harry none the less. It leapt at them. Quicker than anybody could see, Harry readied an arrow, aimed at the airborne hound and fired, the arrow struck the hound under it's chin but bounced away harmlessly, Harry had forgotten the arrows were blunt. The hound slammed into both Harry and Percy knocking them to the ground and slashing Percy's armor with it's claws. Before it could attack again a few dozen arrows suddenly sprouted from it's neck and it dropped dead at their feet, luckily those arrows weren't blunt.

Chiron trotted forward, a bow in hand, his face grim.

"That was a Hellhound! From the fields of punishment," Annabeth said in shock. "They don't… they're not supposed to…"

"Someone summoned it," Chiron interrupted. "Someone in the camp."

"It was Harry!" Clarisse shouted. "He knows magic, he must have summoned it!"

Several of the campers looked at Harry suspiciously.

Suddenly the campers attention was on something else, something floating over Percy's head.

"Um, Percy," Harry said pointing at it. Percy looked up at a green holographic trident floating above his head.

"Your father… this is really not good," Annabeth murmured.

"It is determined," Chiron announced stepping forward. All around them campers started kneeling, even the Ares cabin reluctantly.

"My father?" Percy asked, completely bewildered.

"Poseidon," said Chiron. "Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail Perseus Jackson, son of the sea god."

Just as everybody were getting to their feet trying to process what they'd just learned. A blinding white light flashed behind Harry, he spun around with bow in hand ready to shoot. He quickly realized that the light wasn't coming from behind him, it was coming from above him.

There was a collective gasp and everyone took a step back, even Chiron. Above Harry's head was a pure white bow in the shape of a crescent moon.

"It… it is determined…" Chiron stuttered out, nobody bowed this time, they were in too much shock.

"Hail Harry Potter, son of Artemis. Goddess of the Hunt, Forests and Hills, the Moon and M-Mai…" Chiron trailed off.

'Maidens' that's what he was trying to say, it struck Harry like a cruel joke. Artemis was a maiden goddess, she wasn't supposed to have children. He thought if he was claimed he would have answers, now all he had were more questions.

Thunder rumbled above, dark storm clouds moved unnaturally overhead. Chiron had only a moment as his eyes widened in horror.

There was a flash of light, an earsplitting boom and Harry saw darkness.

To Be Continued…

plz r&r.


	3. III: Prophecies, Gifts & Quests

**Harry Potter & the Olympians : Tides of War**

III: Prophecies, Gifts & Quests

Harry woke up to the taste of treacle in his mouth, he opened his eyes to a familiar blond hair girl spoon feeding him porridge.

"This seems familiar," Harry mumbled sarcastically.

"How do you feel?" Annabeth asked.

"Confused…" Harry mumbled as he tried to remember what happened. Artemis. "What happened?"

"Lightning," Annabeth answered. "It struck the creek a meter away from you, since you were standing in the creek both you and Percy got a pretty bad shock. He recovered almost instantly thanks to the water, Poseidon being his father. You weren't as fortunate, luckily Chiron carried blocks of Ambrosia in his medic kit.

"Ambrosia? The food of the gods?" Harry asked in surprise, he'd learned about it in a book Annabeth loaned him.

"What do you think this stuff is?" Annabeth asked while tapping the porridge bowl with the spoon.

"I thought it was porridge with treacle. What about that drink I had when I woke up the first time. Was that Nectar?" Harry asked.

"Yes, Ambrosia and Nectar, the food and drink of the gods, consuming either can heal Demigods, but having too much can burn you to ash so you we have to be careful about how much we give you," Annabeth placed the bowl on a small table next to Harry's bed. Harry looked around and realized he was in the Big House's medical room.

"I see our patient has woken up," Chiron trotted into the room, he was wearing a t-shirt saying 'My Other Half's a Mustang'

"Chiron, how can Artemis be my mother?" Harry asked directly, he wasn't in the mood for games. "I know my mother… Lily Potter, was pregnant with me, I have pictures!" Harry asked getting more and more frustrated.

"It could be the Mist, manipulating the way you see the photos," Annabeth suggested looking thoughtful.

Harry quickly patted his pocket looking for his trunk wanting to look at his album.

"Where's my trunk?" Harry asked.

Chiron winced. "After the lightning struck, it was gone, along with your broom, invisibility cloak and…" Chiron hesitated. "Your wand."

"WHAT?" Harry yelled in anger. "What do you mean they're gone?"

"Luke mentioned that the cloak disappeared from his hands at the exact moment the lightning flashed, we can assume that Lord Zeus has… confiscated them," Chiron guessed.

"What the hell gives him the right to do that!" Harry snapped out, a rumble of thunder was heard outside.

"Harry please watch what you say…" Chiron warned. "Mr. D has been called to Olympus for a meeting, when he gets back we might get some answers. Until then we may as well get you settled into your new cabin.

"I'll take you there, the Artemis cabin is next to Athena's," Annabeth offered.

As Annabeth lead Harry out of the Big House and down the hill towards the cabins he noticed several campers looking at him suspiciously, when campers were in his path they'd try subtly to get out of his way.

'Great, it's the Heir of Slytherin situation all over again,' Harry thought with an annoyed sigh.

They headed to the left row of cabins. There it was, cabin eight, a silver building with carvings of different animals, the deer depicted more than any other. It was between two other cabins, to the left, a grey cabin with a carving of an owl over the doorway and to the right, a pink (Barbie hose) cabin. Harry quickly figured it out, the Athena and Aphrodite cabins.

"I'll see you soon Harry, I have to talk to Percy," Annabeth left abruptly.

Harry entered the cabin and looked at his surroundings, the cabin was empty apart from a dozen beds that had probably never been slept in. The windows were framed by silver curtains.

Harry fell back onto the closest bed and mumbled, "Home sweet home."

V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W

The next few days didn't improve Harry's mood, almost everyone avoided him. Annabeth still taught him and Percy Ancient Greek in the mornings and Luke still taught them swordplay but other than that they were treated like they'd get struck by lightning if they got too close. Whenever he visited the archery field for some practice, the Apollo kids would leave. Just the other day they'd thought he was their brother because of his natural skill with a bow, turns out Artemis is the twin sister of Apollo and they share a talent in Archery.

At dinner Harry sat alone at the Artemis table, everyone casting quick looks at him and turning away quickly as they were caught.

Harry wasn't alone in his misery, Percy was treated the same way. They mostly spent time hanging out with each other. Percy introduced Harry to his best friend, a Satyr named Grover.

Grover had been Percy's protector until he'd gotten to camp. When Harry mentioned his own protector Grover made a face like he'd swallowed something sour.

"Billy!" Grover said the name with disdain. Billy apparently had a reputation.

"Billy's been sent to escort four demigods to camp in total, including you, and you're the only one who actually made it," Grover explained. "Whenever there's an attack he abandons his charge to save himself, he's a disgrace to all Satyrs!"

As the days went by Harry got more and more agitated, being without his wand made him feel vulnerable and to make it wore he hadn't seen Hedwig for days, even his owl was avoiding him. He hoped that Mr. D would be back soon, he wanted answers.

Harry woke from an afternoon nap to a knock on his cabin door, stumbling out of bed he found Percy and Annabeth waiting for him.

"Mr. D's back, he and Chiron want to see you and Percy."

Harry followed them up to the Big House. Inside, Mr. D sat at a table across from Chiron in his fake wheelchair and Grover, they all held a hand of playing cards.

"Well, well," Mr. D said without looking up from his cards. "Our little celebrities."

Harry resisted the urge to call him a Greasy Git. The resemblance in their speech was uncanny.

"Don't expect me to kowtow to you, mortal, just because old barnacle beard is your father," Mr. D said to Percy before turning to Harry.

"And as for you, you have no idea how much trouble you're causing up in Olympus, don't expect me to give you any special treatment either. If it were up to me I would simply cause your molecules to erupt into flames. We'd sweep up the ashes and be done with a lot of trouble," Mr. D said with a glare at Harry.

Harry hadn't spoken to Mr. D before now so he hadn't realized it but this man had an aura about him, similar to the aura he'd felt when he'd met Hecate. The put together what he knew about Mr. D and compared it to what he'd learned from Annabeth's books, leopard pattern shirt, sat at table 12 during dinner. Mr. D… Dionysus, god of wine.

"I haven't cause any trouble, sir," Harry said carefully, wanting to defend himself but not wanting to get him angry. "and I don't expect any special treatment."

"Oh really? When you were in the Hermes cabin you didn't follow the rules, instead of staying in the cabin to sleep, you snuck out and slept in the commons area, too good for the cabin were you?" Mr. D argued.

"It was too cramped in the Hermes cabin, it was either sleep in the commons area or hang a hammock between the Zeus and Hera cabins," Harry joked with a shrug.

Chiron dropped his cards, Grover choked and one of the his own cards he was chewing and Dionysus barked out a laugh, almost as if he'd like to see that.

"Do you know why the lightning bolt struck the creek instead of your body?" Mr. D asked with a mean smirk.

"After Poseidon claimed Johnson," "Jackson," Percy tried to correct, Mr. D continued uninterrupted. "Whatever, when he claimed you, Zeus was furious, then Artemis claimed Potts and it pushed him over the edge," Harry didn't bother trying to correct him on his name.

"In his anger he lashed out, but his indecision over who to strike caused the bolt to hit the ground between you. I'll leave you to decide whether or not to that makes you lucky or unlucky," Mr. D finished with a smirk.

"Has Artemis told you anything about me?" Harry asked awkwardly, he didn't quite know how to phrase that question.

"No, she's being tight lipped about you. She refuses to say anything until Zeus and Poseidon stop arguing," Mr. D explained as he picked up another card.

"What about my things? My trunk, my wand?" Harry asked getting agitated again.

"Zeus looked rather comfortable using your trunk as a footstool, and that's not all he took from you," Mr. D said with a smirk.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"Seen your owl lately?" Mr. D asked. There was a moment of silence.

"… WHAT!" Harry screamed in rage, his voice seemed to echo throughout the camp, every window in the Big House exploded outwards, every camper, Satyr, and Nymph looked towards the Big House in shock, in that moment they all thought a god had stopped by in a bad mood.

Inside the Big House was a mess, Grover, Percy, Annabeth and Chiron had been thrown to the walls along with the furniture, the only thing that hadn't moved was Mr. D sitting in the chair still holding his cards. Seeing the rest of the cards strew across the floor he let out a sigh and threw his own cards down.

"Where is Olympus?" Harry asked.

"Harry you don't want to…" Chiron said as he pulled himself free from his overturned chair.

"Chiron, you told me that the gods move with the heart of the west and that Olympus is here in America now, where?" Harry asked again.

"Harry I know you're angry, but storming to Olympus won't accomplish anything," Chiron said slowly trying to calm Harry down. Harry took and seat and leant forward on his knees trying to calm down.

"I say you should let him go, it would be amusing to see what Zeus would do to him," Mr. D said with a smile.

"Mr. D, didn't you say you had something to do?" Chiron asked obviously trying to get him to leave, he wasn't helping Harry's situation.

With a sigh Dionysus picked up one of the playing cards and it transformed into a security pass, he swiped it across the air like a credit card. He seemed to glow for a moment before folding in on himself and disappearing in a poof of smoke that smelled of grapes.

"You mentioned Zeus and my dad fighting… they're fighting over something that was stolen aren't they?" Percy asked shocking Chiron.

"How do you know that?" Chiron asked cautiously.

"I've been having dreams, an eagle fighting a horse, the eagle spoke, it yelled 'Give it back'"

"I knew it," Grover mumbled as he started to pick up the cards off the floor and subtlety shoving them into his mouth.

"That's what we wanted to talk to you about Percy, every winter and summer solstice the Olympians have a big meeting up on Olympus, during which Zeus and Poseidon got into an argument… again. You're right Percy, when the meeting was over Zeus realized something was missing. To be precise, a lightning bolt."

Percy laughed nervously. "A what?"

"Do not take this lightly!" Chiron warned. "I'm not talking about some tinfoil covered zigzag you'd see at a second grade play. I'm talking about a two foot long cylinder of high grade celestial bronze capped on both ends with god level explosives. Zeus's master bolt, the symbol of his power, from which all other lightning bolts are patterned. The first weapon forged by the Cyclopes for the war against the Titans, the bolt that."

"Ok we get it!" Harry snapped, he was still seething from the knowledge that Hedwig had been taken. "Would you just get to the point, what does this have to do with Percy and me?"

"Well, gods cannot usurp each others symbols of power, it goes against their highest laws, but a demigod could. Poseidon is Zeus's biggest rival so Zeus immediately suspected him, he believes that Poseidon convinced a human hero to take it for him. Now that you've been claimed by Poseidon as his only son Zeus believes he has his thief, that you snuck into Olympus during the winter solstice and stole the bolt," Chiron said to Percy.

"What?" Percy asked on shock. "But, I've never even been to Olympus! Zeus is crazy!"

Chiron and Grover glanced out a shattered window at storm clouds parting over the valley.

"Er, Percy? We don't use the c-word to describe the lord of the sky," Grover said nervously.

"I have a few words to describe him, none of them begin with C," Harry muttered. "What about me? What does he have against me?"

"You and Percy arrived at camp around the same time, you quickly became friends and you were both claimed at the same time, this has given Zeus the idea that you were both involved with the theft and that Artemis is conspiring with Poseidon, plus the thought that Artemis might have broken her oath to remain a maiden forever didn't improve his mood, then is Artemis' refusal to explain your birth," Chiron explained.

"Of course Poseidon and Artemis both deny the accusations and took great offence. Poseidon and Zeus have been arguing for months threatening war, now Artemis is involved it's gotten worse. Zeus has demanded that they return the master bolt by the summer solstice on the twenty-first of June, ten days from now. Poseidon and Artemis want an apology for being called thieves by the same date. If neither happens then war will break out, World War Three."

There was a clap of thunder and it started to rain outside, campers stopped what they were doing and looked at the sky with stunned expressions. It never rained at camp, the magical barriers prevented bad weather.

"So I have to find the stupid bolt and return it to Zeus?" Percy asked.

"What better peace offering then to have Poseidon's son return Zeus's property?"

"I'm going too," Harry said as he stood up.

"That's not a good idea Harry, your existence if proof that Artemis, Zeus's daughter, broke her oath to remain a maiden, he wouldn't harm Percy for risk of offending Poseidon, you however," Chiron tried come up with something that wouldn't sound offensive.

Harry was furious, all his life a man who thought he was better than Harry had pushed him around blaming him for things that were not only not his fault but out of his control, now he had traded that old man for another and he was angry.

"I'm going, Zeus took all of my things and I'm going to get them back, not to mention I want some answers from my mother," Harry said the word 'Mother' awkwardly. "That won't happen until the bolt is returned to Zeus."

"Harry I know you're angry about your possessions being taken but they can be replaced, for now it is best for you to remain at camp." Chiron said sternly.

Harry was seething at Chiron's words. "You're right, the wand, the broom, the owl, I can buy new ones," Harry agreed, Chiron let out a sigh of relief thinking he had convinced Harry.

"The wand chose me, no other wand will ever work as well for me as that one, but you're right I can get a new one. The broom was the first gift I was ever given, the first thing that was ever really mine, but you're right, I can buy a new one. The invisibility cloak was my fathers, the only thing I have of his, but your right, I can buy a new one. In the trunk was a photo album, containing the only photo's I have of my mortal parents, but I'm sure I can replace them somehow. The owl, Hedwig, was my first friend, the only one who kept me company during the summer when I had to live at…" Harry gritted his teeth, he didn't want his friends to know about that part of his life. "When you don't have much in your life, everything you do have becomes precious. The wand, cloak, broom and owl, I can buy new ones, but they can never be replaced! Don't you dare tell me they can!" Harry growled.

Chiron looked taken aback, he hadn't realized just how precious his belongings were to Harry.

Annabeth's suspicions were pretty much confirmed, she got her first clue when she asked him about missing his family, she had noticed he looked underweight and had caught a glimpse of old scars along his back when his shirt slid up while firing an arrow on the archery range.

"Sigh… ok, I can see there's no stopping you, both you and Percy shall lead this quest, you must consult the Oracle," Chiron said and pointed towards a trapdoor on the top floor. "Go upstairs boys, to the attic. When you come back down, assuming you're still sane, we will talk more."

Together, Percy and Harry walked up fours flights of stairs and arrived at the trapdoor, percy grasped the cord hanging from the door and pulled. The door swung down and a wooden ladder clattered into place. They tried to ignore the smell and climbed.

"Snakes," Harry muttered recognizing the smell, "Why is it always snakes?"

The attic was filled with Greek Hero junk, armor stands covered with cobwebs, rusted shields. Harry immediately noticed a large dusty snakes head mounted on the wall, only it had horns and a full set of shark-like teeth. The plaque read: HYDRA HEAD NO. 1, WOODSTOCK, NY, 1969.

The most gruesome thing in the attic sat on a stool near a window, this one hadn't shattered for some reason. It was a mummy, a female human body shriveled to a husk she wore a tie-dyed sundress, lots of beaded necklaces and a headband over long black hair.

Suddenly she sat up making Harry jump back startled, she opened her mouth and green mist poured out of it coiling over the floor in thick tendrils, hissing like snakes.

In Harry's head a voice echoed. 'I am the spirit of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python. Approach seekers, and ask.'

Harry had a feeling it wasn't the Mummy speaking, it was the mist. The mummified body was just a container for something else. Percy seemed to have heard the Oracle speak too because he stepped forward nervously and asked. "What is my destiny?"

Harry wanted to snort at how corny he sounded, but he didn't have a chance as the mist swirled around them and took shapes. Four men sitting around a table playing poker and smoking. From the look on Percy's face he recognized them. The next four people, Harry recognized. A girl with bushy brown hair, a gangly boy with red hair and freckles, a tall dark man with greasy hair and a hook shaped nose, finally a girl with short black hair, a spatter of freckles across her nose and electric blue eyes, she wore skull earrings, a pair of faded jeans and a black 'Death to Barbie' t-shirt with a picture of a Barbie doll with an arrow through it's head. It was the girl from his dream.

"**You shall go west and face the god who has turned**," Poker Man number one said in the same raspy voice of the Oracle.

"**You shall find what was stolen, and see it safely returned**," Poker man number two said.

"**You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend**," Poker man number three.

"**You shall fail to save what matters most in the end**," the last one said.

"**A hunter stalks her prey across the land**," Hermione said in the voice not her own.

"**A god's golden blood will stain the sand**," Ron said.

"**The Goddess of the Hunt shall defend her pride**," Snape said in the Oracles' voice but Harry could almost hear his usual snide voice.

"**And the Boy-Who-Lived may finally die**." the mystery girl finished, her voice wasn't like the others, it wasn't an echo of the oracle, it was exactly the same as he had heard in his dream. It made that final line just a little more haunting than the rest of the prophecy.

The eight people dissolved back into green smoke and slithered like a snake towards the mummy, with a lunge it shot back into the her mouth and disappeared.

"Wait!" Percy cried, "What do you mean? What friend? What will we fail to save? Who'll die?"

Harry didn't say anything, he was too stunned. 'The Boy-Who-Lived may finally die.'

The mummy slumped back onto her stool, as if she'd never moved, their audience with the Oracle was over.

Harry made their way back downstairs and slumped into a pair of chairs across from Chiron, Annabeth and Grover.

"Well?" Chiron asked looked at them expectedly.

"She said we'd retrieve what was stolen," Percy answered vaguely.

Grover sat forward chewing excitedly on an empty Diet Coke can. "That's great!"

"What did the oracle say exactly? This is important," Chiron pressed.

"She… she said we would go west and face the god who had turned. We'd retrieve what was stolen and see it safely returned." Percy stopped there, he didn't want to tell them the next two lines. Neither did Harry, they would be betrayed and fail to save what mattered most, not exactly prime pep-talk material. But Chiron didn't look satisfied.

"Anything else?" Chiron asked.

"A hunter stalks her prey across the land, a god's golden blood will stain the sand," Harry continued, skipping over two lines. The mention and a God's blood unnerved Chiron.

"The Goddess of the Hunt shall defend her pride," Harry hesitated at the last line.

"And the boy who lived may finally die." Percy finished.

"The boy who lived?" Annabeth asked "Who could that be?"

Chiron eyed Harry, Dumbledore had spoken to him about Harry for years so he knew Harry's title.

"I see… Harry, Percy, the Oracle's words often have double meanings. Don't dwell on them too much. The truth is not always clear until events come to pass."

Harry felt like Chiron was talking directly to him about that last line, but Harry was still unsure, 'The Boy-Who-Lived may finally die'. That didn't exactly leave room for interpretation.

"Okay, so where do we go? Who's this god in the west?" Percy asked.

"Well boys, if Zeus and Poseidon weaken each other in a war, who would stand to gain?" Chiron asked. "Someone who harbors a grudge, who has been unhappy with his lot since the world was divided eons ago, who's kingdom would grow more powerful with the deaths of millions. Someone who hates his brothers for forcing him into an oath to have no more children, an oath that both of them have now broken."

"Hades," Harry realized, he'd read about the lord of the dead in a book. When the Titan war was over Zeus, Poseidon and Hades divided the earth, Zeus got the skies, Poseidon got the oceans and Hades was tricked into taking the underworld.

Chiron nodded, "The Lord of the Dead is the only possibility."

Grover's mouth was hanging open in shock, a small piece of chewed up tin can fell out of his mouth. "Woah, wait. Wh-What?" Grover stuttered out, he reminded him for a moment of Billy.

"Remember, a Fury came after Percy," Chiron reminded Grover. "She watched him until she was sure of who he was and then tried to kill him. Furies only obey one master, Hades."

"The Hellhound," Harry realized, "Summoned from the Fields of Punishment in the underworld, Hades' domain."

"Yes, but he couldn't have sent it here, it had to have been summoned from within the camp. Hades must have a spy here. One thing is clear, Harry and Percy must go to the underworld, retrieve the Master Bolt and return it to Olympus before the summer solstice, you may choose two others to accompany you," Chiron explained.

"What? The number of people allowed to go on a quest is restricted to three people," Annabeth said in surprise.

"Technically, the rules say the leader can choose two others to accompany them, in this situation we have two leaders, thus you can each choose one person to accompany you," Chiron explained.

"Ok, how 'bout it G-man?" Percy asked Grover. He looked indecisive, probably trying to weight the pros vs. the cons.

"Grover, if you don't want to go I won't force you," Percy assured.

"Oh, no… it's just that satyrs and underground places… well…," he took a deep breath and stood up. "You saved my life Percy. If… if you're serious about wanting me along, I won't let you down," Percy looked relieved, Harry was smiling, he was glad to see that satyrs weren't all like Billy.

Annabeth looked nervous, like she was trying to decide whether or not to say something. Harry knew that she desperately wanted to go on a quest but a line in the prophesy echoed in Harry's head, you shall be betrayed by a friend. Then he remembered what Chiron said about double meanings in the prophesy.

"Annabeth, you want to come?" Harry asked.

"Sure, I guess," Annabeth answered with a shrug as if it didn't matter to her either way, but the twitching at the corner of her mouth told another story.

"You don't have to come if you don't want too, I'm sure Luke would," Percy started to say, thinking that Annabeth really didn't want to come.

"I've been waiting a long time for a quest Seaweed Brain," Annabeth interrupted him. "Athena is no fan of Poseidon, but if you're going to save the world. I'm the best person to keep you from messing it up."

"I suppose you have a plan, Wise Girl?" Percy asked, Annabeth's cheeks colored. Seeing a possible argument coming Chiron cut in.

"Excellent. It's almost dark now, you can leave first thing in the morning. Argus can take you as far as the bus terminal in Manhattan. After that, you're on your own."

Lightning flashed. Rain poured down on the meadows that were never supposed to have violent weather.

"No time to waste," Chiron said. "I think you should get packing. Harry I'd like to speak with you alone for a moment."

Percy, Annabeth and Grover all left the Big House, running quickly to the cabins to get out of the rain. Harry didn't follow them.

"Are you going to tell them you're the Boy-Who-Lived?" Chiron asked concerned.

"I don't know… if they find out then they'd probably be looking over their shoulder every ten seconds to check on me," Harry answered.

"Well, it's your decision. You'd better get packing too," Chiron said, dismissing Harry.

"Pack what? Zeus has taken everything but the clothes on my back," Harry said angrily as he walked out of the Big House.

Harry walked quickly through the rain while repeating the prophecy over and over in his head. Two lines in particular.

The Goddess of the Hunt shall defend her pride,

And the Boy-Who-Lived may finally die.

Harry couldn't help but think that the two lines could be connected, the Goddess of the Hunt defends her pride and the end result was his death. He was suddenly afraid that Artemis, his mother, may kill him.

Trying not to think about it Harry laid back on his bed and fell asleep, not feeling like going to dinner.

V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W

Harry woke up to a Basilisk looming over him.

"AHH!" Harry yelled and tried to scramble away, he fell off the edge of his bed and hit the ground with a thud. The Basilisk didn't go after him. When Harry looked up again he realized why.

Mounted on the wall next to the bed, was a Basilisk's head, stuffed and displayed on a shield shaped plaque, it's eye sockets empty and mouth wide open displaying it's fangs. It was the same Basilisk he'd killed, he'd never forgot it's face. Harry took deep breaths trying to calm down.

"Where the hell did that come from?" Harry asked the empty room. That's when he noticed something else. On the table next to his bed was a large white box wrapped with a silver bow. Harry stood up and walked to it, he turned over a cardboard tag on the bow.

_To Harry, love from Mum._

Harry was stunned, for years he'd dreamed of getting a present with those exact words, now that it was happening his mind went blank. Not wanting to stand in the shadow of the Basilisk's head he picked up the box and walked to a bed on the opposite side of the cabin. Untying the bow he opened the box.

Inside was something made of dark green leather. Harry pulled it out of the box and let it unfold itself. It was a jacket, dark green, long enough to reach his knees, two pockets on the outside and two on the inside. Looking back at the box he noticed that the jacket had been covering a few other items. A rolled up pair of jeans, a black T-shirt and a pair of black boots. Next to them a wad of American money, a brown pouch with maybe twenty gold coins inside it and a Swiss army knife.

Draping the jacket over the bed Harry picked up the Swiss army knife curiously, he'd seen a few in shop windows before, the sides of those ones were red, this one however was silver and had an engraving of a deer along it. Harry flipped out the knife attachment and suddenly it changed, the blade grew to around two feet long and the rest of the knife turned into a silver handle. He wasn't holding a Swiss army knife anymore, he was holding a silver sword.

"Whoa!" Harry said as he held the blade up to the light. After admiring it for a few moments he wondered how to change it back, the sword seemed to know what he wanted because suddenly he was holding the Swiss army knife again.

Realizing he had to get ready to leave, he started getting dressed in his new clothes. When he slipped on the T-shirt he noticed one last thing he'd missed, a glasses case. Flipping it open he found a pair of designer glasses, square rimmed and looked very expensive. He took off his old glasses and put the new ones on, immediately his vision cleared up and was even better than before, he'd never considered that his own glasses were out of date, he'd had them so long.

Finally he slipped on the green jacket, it fit perfectly, like it was tailor made for him.

He looked at himself in the mirror and suddenly felt guilty for suspecting Artemis of plotting to kill him. Harry placed the Swiss army knife into his left inside pocket and the money, both dollars and gold coins, into his other pocket.

With one last look around the cabin Harry walked into the commons area and closed the door behind him. To the right Harry spotted Annabeth checking her pack.

"You ready to go?" Harry asked.

Annabeth turned and did a double take looking at Harry's new clothes.

"What happened to you?" Annabeth asked sounding slightly impressed.

"Woke up this morning with a box of goodies next to my bed, from my mother," Harry explained.

Harry and Annabeth walked up to the large pine tree that used to be Thalia, Daughter of Zeus, Percy was standing by the tree with Grover and Chiron. As they walked up Harry noticed some of the female campers paying extra attention to him, especially the daughters of Aphrodite. And a few of the nymphs.

When they reached the tree Percy was admiring a bronze sword.

"The sword has a long and tragic history that we need not get into," Chiron said to Percy. "It's name is Anaklusmos."

"Riptide," Percy translated

"Use it only for emergencies," Chiron said. "and only against monsters. No hero should harm mortals unless absolutely necessary, or course, but this sword wouldn't hurt them in any case."

Both Harry and Percy looked at the blade and wondered the same thing. How could it not?

"That blade is made of Celestial Bronze. It is deadly to monsters but will pass through mortals like an illusion. They are simply not important enough for the blade to kill. And I should warn you, as a demigod, you can be killed by either celestial or normal weapons. You are twice as vulnerable."

"Good to know," Percy mumbled as he placed what looked like pen cap on the tip of the blade, immediately the sword shrunk down and changed into a ballpoint pen.

Chiron seemed to finally notice Harry and Annabeth's presence. More importantly Harry appearance.

"New clothes?" Chiron asked curiously.

"I got a gift package from my mother this morning, it had these clothes, some money and this," Harry took out the Swiss army knife and flipped the knife open again, the blade grew and Harry was again holding the silver sword.

"Moonlight Silver," Chiron said impressed. "Made of the same material as Lady Artemis's arrows. Silver, mined from the moon and blessed by the Goddess of the hunt. It's very similar to Celestial Bronze and won't harm mortals."

After putting the weapon away the quartet checked their supplies, Harry had his Swiss army knife, a wad of dollars and a pouch of two dozen golden coins, Drachmas, Chiron called them. Percy had a backpack with a change of clothes, one hundred dollars and twenty golden drachmas that the camp store had loaned him.

Grover wore a pair of fake feet and jeans to pass as human, he had a bag stuffed with apples, tin cans and in his pocket was a set of reed pipes.

Annabeth was taking her magic Yankees cap that could turn her invisible, she mentioned it was a present from her mother for her twelfth birthday. She carried a book on famous classical architecture, written in Ancient Greek, to read when she got bored, and a long bronze knife, hidden in her shirt sleeve.

Finally Chiron passed Harry, Percy and Annabeth each a flask of Nectar and an airtight bag of ambrosia squares. To be used only in an emergency, Chiron reminded them. It was god food after all, it would heal almost any injury, but it was lethal to mortals. Too much of it would make a half-blood very feverish. An overdose would have the same effect as it would on a mortal.

Just as they were about to leave, Luke came running up the hill holding a pair of basketball shoes.

"Hey, glad I caught you."

Annabeth blushed, just like she always did when Luke was around.

"Just wanted to say good luck, and I thought you could use these," he handed Percy the sneakers.

"Maia!" Luke said, suddenly the sneakers sprouted white wings and started fluttering.

"Awesome!" Grover said making Luke smile.

"Those served me well when I was on my quest. Gift from my Dad. Of course, idon't use them much these days…" his expression turned sad. "Anyway, good luck, kill some monsters for me, okay?"

Luke shook Percy and Harry's hand, patted Grover between his horns and gave Annabeth a goodbye hug, she looked like she was about pass out. After Luke was gone Percy turned to Annabeth.

"You're hyperventilating," he said with a smile.

"Am not!" Annabeth snapped at him and stomped down the side of the other side of the hill, where a white SUV waited on the shoulder of the road, Argus was waiting for them.

"I'm not going to be able to use these am I?" Percy asked Chiron holding up the flying sneakers.

"Luke meant well Percy, but the sky is Zeus's domain, it would not be wise for you to use them," Chiron said with a sad look.

Knowing that Harry couldn't use them either he gave them to a very excited Grover, after slipping them on a saying, "Maia," the shoes sprouted wings and took off down the hill, dragging a distressed Grover behind them. "Ahhhhh!"

"Practice," Chiron called down to him, "You just need practice!"

Harry was looking out over the camp. The Big House, the cabins, the Long island Sound. Harry had enjoyed his week there and hoped he would come back soon. For now, he had a quest to concentrate on, hopefully by the end of it he'd have some answers.

To Be Continued…

plx r&r


	4. IV: A Rocky Start

**Harry Potter & the Olympians : Tides of War**

IV: A Rocky Start.

It took all day to drive from Long Island back to Manhattan. As they drove, the quartet talked all day. Annabeth, Percy and Grover were very interested in Harry's adventures in Hogwarts.

He didn't tell them about his title, 'Boy-Who-Lived' because he didn't want them to treat him any differently, either because of the prophesy or because of his fame. At some point Annabeth asked him about the Basilisk he'd killed, he'd started telling the story hours ago and was still telling it, the three were listening with rapt attention.

"… when we saw the spiders walking in a straight line we remembered what Hagrid had mentioned, 'Follow the Spiders'. so me and Ron grabbed my invisibility cloak and followed them… right into the forbidden forest," Annabeth looked disturbed at the mention of spiders.

"We followed them for maybe an hour when we walked into a clearing covered in cobwebs, we saw something moving. It was an Acromantula." the three looked confused.

"What's an Acromantula?" Percy asked.

"Picture a black tarantula, the size of this SUV!" Harry revealed.

Annabeth's eyes were wide open and her lip and quivering. "You're joking right?"

"I wish," Harry answered with a sigh.

The story was cut short as the SUV came to a stop near a bus station. Argus helped to unload their bags while Percy and Annabeth went to buy four tickets west. After unpacking the SUV Argus got Harry's attention, he reached into the back of the boot and produced a wooden bow and a quiver filled with arrows. During the drive Harry had expressed a lack of confidence in his sword skills and wished he'd brought a bow, Argus must have overheard.

"Thanks Argus, I'm going to feel a lot better knowing I have these," Harry said with a smile, he and Argus shook hands before Argus got back into the SUV and drove away.

Harry strapped the quiver to his back and hung the bow over his shoulder just as the others returned.

"So where're we heading?" Harry asked.

"We have to head west but we don't know how far, we got four tickets to Denver," Annabeth explained.

"Sorry, I don't know much about America. How far is Denver?" Harry asked feeling a little embarrassed.

"Right now we're on the far east of the United States, Denver is a city in Colorado, over half way across the country," Annabeth explained, she knew Harry was from England. "It'll take us a few days to get there."

Harry was used to long trips across country, the Hogwarts Express took most of the day to travel from Kings Cross station to Hogsmead station. This was a little different, the trip would take days.

The bus arrived just as it started raining. When Harry got on the bus he was a little worried that somebody would have an issue with his bow. "Don't worry," Grover said, noticing Harry's worry. "The grip is Celestial Bronze and the arrowheads are too, Mortals won't see them."

Just as they started getting comfortable the air in the bus changed, Annabeth's eyes widened in shock and placed her hand on Percy's leg.

"Percy," Annabeth whispered and nodded her head towards the last group of passengers to board. At the front was an old woman, she wore a creased velvet dress, lace gloves and a shapeless orange-knit hat that shadowed her face.

"Mrs. Dodds," Percy whispered looking startled and scrunched down in his seat trying to hide from the old woman.

"Who is she?" Harry asked.

"My Algebra teacher," Percy answered as if it explained everything.

Harry thought about it for a moment, he tried to imagine running into Snape in the middle of a shop, lining up to buy a newspaper and a bag of crisps. He simply couldn't imagine it, teachers don't exist to students outside of school. However, Percy looked more disturbed than he should.

Behind the old woman Harry spotted two more, they looked identical to Mrs. Dodds right down to the dresses. The only difference Harry could see was the color of their hats, one purple and the other green.

The creepy teacher triplets sat in the front row right behind the driver. The two sitting at the aisle crossed their legs blocking anybody from crossing. The bus pulled out of the station and started weaving through the streets of Manhattan.

"She didn't stay dead long," Percy said, his voice quivering. "I thought you said they could be dispelled for a lifetime."

"I said if you were lucky," Annabeth answered. "You're obviously not."

"All three of them," Grover whimpered. "Di immortales!"

"It's okay," Annabeth said, obviously trying to calm Grover down.

"Wait, what's going on?" Harry asked, getting frustrated. "Who's dead? Who are they?"

"Mrs. Dodds was planted in my school to watch me, then a few weeks ago she attacked me, she was the first monster I killed," Percy answered franticly.

Harry remembered this story, the first monster Percy killed, a Fury. A three of them, Grover had said.

"Oh crap!" Harry cursed.

"The Furies. The three worst monsters from the Underworld. No problem. No problem. We'll just slip out the windows," Annabeth suggested.

"They don't open," Grover moaned.

"A back exit?" Annabeth suggested. They all turned around and saw that their wasn't one. Looking back towards the front Harry noticed they were heading towards a tunnel.

"They won't attack us with so many witness around," Percy said uncertainly. "Will they?"

"Mortals don't have good eyes," Annabeth reminded him. "Their brains can only process what they see through the Mist."

"They'll see three old ladies killing us, won't they?" Percy asked.

"Percy, we can't count on the Mortals for help," Annabeth snapped at him.

The bus hit the Lincoln tunnel and went dark, the only source of light camp from lights on the floor of the bus. Without the rain battering on the roof it became eerily quiet.

Mrs. Dodds suddenly stood up and announced to the entire bus in a flat voice. "I need to use the restroom."

"So do I," said the second sister.

"So do I," said the third sister.

They all started walking down the aisle towards them.

"I've got it," Annabeth said. "Percy, take my hat."

"What?"

"You're the one they want. Turn invisible and go up the aisle. Let them pass you. Maybe you can get to the front and get away." Annabeth explained.

"But you guys-" Percy looked conflicted, he didn't want to leave his friends. Harry wished he had his invisibility cloak, it would have easily covered his Annabeth and Grover.

"Stupid Zeus," Harry muttered under his breath, outside the tunnel thunder rumbled.

"There's an outside chance that they might not notice us," Annabeth said. "You're a son of one of the Big Three. Your smell might be overpowering."

"I can't just leave you," Percy argued.

"Don't worry about us, go!" Grover said.

Percy's hands trembled. Harry could see he was conflicted. He took the hat from Annabeth and out it on.

With Percy gone Harry tried to think of a way out of this mess for the rest of them, he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his silver Swiss army knife, he placed his thumbnail against the blade ready to flick it open at a moments notice.

Mrs. Dodds stopped for a moment and sniffed the air, Harry worried for a moment that she'd find Percy. But she quickly stopped and sniffing and stalked towards them. When they reached their row they suddenly changed, their bodies shriveled into leathery brown hag like bodies with bats wings, their hands and feet were cloven with long claws. The handbags they had each held transformed into fiery whips. With a lash of their whips they started hissing.

"Where is it? Where?"

The other people on the bus screamed and cowered behind their seats, Harry wondered for a moment what they were seeing.

"He's not here!" Annabeth yelled. "He's gone!"

This didn't improve their mood. The Furies raised their whips. Annabeth drew her knife. Grover grabbed a tin can from his bag and prepared to throw it. Harry was about to flick his lade when suddenly the bus swerved hard to the left. Everybody yelled as they were thrown to the right and the force of the turn smashed all three of the Furies into the windows.

The Swiss army knife was knocked out of Harry's hand and slid across the floor under the seats.

The bus continued to swerve left and right erratically, Harry saw the driver struggling with the wheel as if somebody else was…

"Percy," Harry said, realizing Percy's insane idea. The bus slammed against the side of the tunnel, grinding metal, throwing sparks a mile behind them. The bus reached the end of the tunnel and shot back out into the daylight, the rainstorm was still going strong.

Harry was on his knees trying to find his weapon, whenever he found it, it would slide out of sight again as the bus continued to swerve left and right thanks to Percy's tug-of-war game with the driver and his wheel.

Just when Harry thought he had it, the bus's emergency brakes activated and it slid towards the front of the bus. Everyone hit the ground after flying forwards a few feet. The bus skidded uncontrollably on the wet road, spun a full circle and crashed into trees that seemed to come out of nowhere.

The emergency lights turned on, the door flew open and the passengers started stampeding off the bus. The Furies finally got back to their feet and hissed in anger at the three.

Annabeth waved her knife at them and shouted in Greek, telling them to back off. Grover was busy throwing tin cans at them. Harry had given up on finding his knife and struggled to get his bow off his back.

"Hey!" Percy shouted from the front of the bus as he reappeared with Annabeth's hat in hand.

The Furies turned to him and bared their yellow fangs

"Perseus Jackson!" Mrs. Dodds screeched at him. "You have offended the gods. You hall die!"

"I liked you better as a maths teacher!" Percy yelled at her as he took his pen out of his pocket, he uncapped it and it grew into a shimmering double-edged sword.

Before he could use it Mrs. Dodds lashed out with her whip, it wrapped around Percy's sword hand burning him. The two others lunged at him from either side, Percy managed a hit the Fury on his left with the butt of his sword knocking her back over a seat and slashed at the Fury on his right. The blade connected with her neck and she screamed as she exploded into dust just like Python had.

Annabeth jumped on Mrs. Dodds back and got her into some sort of wrestling hold as Grover pulled the whip out of her hand, the fire around Percy's wrist went out.

The Fury Percy had knocked over the seats regained her footing and lunged at him again with her claws ready.

Harry had finally gotten his bow ready, before the Fury could reached Percy a shaft of wood sprouted from her chest, she fell backwards and turned to dust before she hit the ground.

Mrs. Dodds was the only one left. She kicked, clawed, hissed and bit, but Annabeth held on while Grover tied up her legs with her own whip. Finally they both shoved her backwards into the aisle, Mrs. Dodds tried to get up but she didn't have room to flap her bat wings, so she kept falling down.

"Zeus will destroy you!" she promised. "Hades will have your soul!"

Thunder shook the bus. The hair rose on the back of their necks.

"Get out!" Annabeth yelled at them. "Now!"

Harry didn't need any encouragement, he knew what was about to happen, again.

The four rushed out of the bus and foud the other passengers wandering around in a daze.

"Our bags!" Grover realized. "We left our-"

**BOOOOM!**

The windows of the bus exploded as the passengers ran for cover. Lightning shredded a huge crater in the roof and an angry wail from inside told them Mrs. Dodds was not yet dead.

"Run!" Annabeth said. "She's calling for reinforcements! We have to get out of here!"

The quartet plunged into the woods next to the road as the rain poured down, the bus in flames behind them and nothing but darkness ahead. Before Harry made it more than three steps into the trees pain exploded in his back, he fell to the ground and something clattered to the ground behind him. Rolling over he saw what had hit him, a silver arrow. Harry felt the back of his jacket where he felt the sharp pain and felt a crack along the leather..

'_My jacket stopped that arrow!' _Harry realized sickeningly. A whistling sound was heard, Harry rolled out of the way as another arrow shot past his face cutting his cheek and slamming into a tree.

Harry scrambled to his feet and ran, he heard the thud of another arrow missing him and kept running as fast as he could hoping to catch up to the others quickly.

V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W

An hour later the four were traipsing through the woods on the New Jersey riverbank. The glow of New York City making the night sky yellow behind them and the smell of the Hudson river in their noses.

The adrenaline had worn off from their battle and the shock of what had just happened was catching up to them. Grover was shivering and braying. "Three Kindly Ones. All three at once."

"Come on, the further away we get the better." Annabeth said.

"All our money was back there," Percy reminded them. "Our food and clothes. Everything."

"Tin cans… a perfectly good can of tin cans," Grover brayed mournfully.

"We still have my money. But I lost my knife," Harry said sadly. It was a gift from his mother and he'd lost it in less than half a day.

"I'm sorry Harry," Annabeth said understandingly.

"It's not your fault," Harry said as he rubbed his back, wincing as he touched the spot he was hit.

"You ok man?" Percy asked.

"Somebody hit me with an arrow, it must have been the reinforcements Dodds was calling for," Harry said as he stopped walking and leaned against a tree.

"What? And you didn't mention this until now?" Annabeth shouted at him.

"We were a little busy running for our lives," Harry argued. "My jacket stopped the arrow and it didn't hurt too bad when it happened."

"That's the adrenaline," Grover said. "Now that it's wearing off you're feeling the pain."

"Take off your jacket and sit down," Annabeth said and pointed at a moss covered log. Her tone left no room for argument.

Harry winced as he unclipped his quiver, shrugged off the jacket and sat down. Annabeth lifted Harry's shirt and winced, a large bruise covered over half of his lower back.

"The jacket is like a bullet proof vest, it stopped the penetration of the arrow but you still felt the impact," Annabeth guessed as she took out her flask of nectar, spilled a few drops onto the bruise and rubbed it in. Harry winced as he felt a burning sensation and then numbness. The bruise quickly cleared up leaving a spot of red skin.

"It'll be tender for a few hours, we need to find a place to stay," Annabeth said as she pulled the shirt back down.

Harry stood up and picked up his Jacket, as he did something slipped out of one of the pockets and landed with a thud onto the damp grass. His Swiss army knife.

"What the?" Harry muttered in confusion.

"I thought you said you left it behind?" Annabeth asked.

"I did, I lost it when Percy was playing tug-o-war with the bus driver. I couldn't find it so I switched to my bow," Harry explained as he picked it up and dusted it off.

"I have an idea, can I?" Percy asked and held out his hand, Harry passed it to him.

Percy pulled his hand back and threw the knife hard into the foliage.

"Hey!" Harry shouted, he'd just got it back, he didn't want to lose it again.

"Sorry, but check your pocket," Percy said and pointed at the jacket Harry had just slipped back on. Harry reached into the pocket and was surprised to find the knife inside it.

"Chiron told me about it, my pen will always return to my pocket, looks like your knife has the same trick," Percy said.

Harry was about to say something when his nose caught a smell, his mouth watered and his stomach rumbled. "This may be the Nectar speaking but… do you guys smell food?"

Percy took an experimental whiff and licked his lips, "Yeah, burgers."

"Over there," Grover said, pointing at a light through the trees.

The four walked quickly through the woods until they emerged at a deserted two lane road. On the other side was a closed down gas station, a billboard for a movie from the '90s and an open business which was the source of light and the good smell. The main building was a long, low warehouse, surrounded by dozens of statues.

Percy and Annabeth squinted their eyes at the neon sign trying to make out what it said. While at camp Annabeth had told him that most demigods were dyslexic and had ADHD. The dyslexia was due to their minds being hard wired for ancient Greek, the ADHD was caused by their inborn battle reflexes. Harry was lucky enough to have both the ability to read Greek and have the reflexes, without having to suffer dyslexia or ADHD.

"Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium," Harry read out loud.

Percy was the first to cross the street following the smell, Annabeth followed a few moments later.

"Hey…" Grover warned.

"The lights are on," Annabeth said. "Maybe it's open."

"Snack bar," Percy muttered hungrily.

"Snack bar," Annabeth agreed.

"Are you two crazy?" Grover said. "This place is weird."

Harry agreed with him, there was something creepy about both the statues and the way his two friends were acting. They ignored Grover and walked into the garden. Harry and Grover jogged to catch up to them.

The front garden was filled with statues off all kinds, animals, children, even a satyr which gave Grover the creeps.

"Bla-ha-ha!" he bleated like Billy had a habit to. "Looks like my Uncle Ferdinand!"

They stopped at the door of the warehouse.

"Don't knock," Grover pleaded. "I smell monsters."

"Your nose is stuffed up from the Furies," Annabeth said dismissively. "All I smell is burgers. Aren't you hungry?"

"Meat!" Grover said scornfully. "I'm a vegetarian."

The doors in front of them suddenly swung open by themselves, standing there was a woman wearing a long black gown covering everything but her hands and her head was completely veiled. Harry could just make out the shine of her eyes behind the curtain of black gauze.

Behind the woman Harry heard the sound of dozens of people speaking, having conversations, laughing at jokes. It reminded Harry of dinner in the Great Hall back at Hogwarts, the sounds of the Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin tables talking about their day with their friends.

"Children, it is too late to be out all alone," the woman said in a slightly Middle Eastern accent. "Where are your parents?"

"They're… um…" Annabeth started to say.

"We're orphans," Percy blurted out. Harry winced.

"Orphans?" the woman said. The word sounded strange on her lips. "My dears! Surely not!"

"We got separated from our caravan," Percy said. "Our… circus, caravan. The ringmaster told us to meet him at the gas station if we got lost, but he may have forgotten…" Percy kept going as Harry looked at him in disbelief.

"It's like his mouth is falling down the stairs," Harry muttered to Grover who broke a small smile for the first time since the Furies attacked.

"… or maybe he meant a different gas station. Anyway we're lost," Percy finished lamely. "Is that food I smell?" Percy finished.

"Oh, my dears," the woman said in a tone that reminded Harry for a moment of Mrs. Weasley. "You must come in, poor children. I am Aunty Em. Go straight through the back of the warehouse, please. There is a dining area, I'll have burgers and fries ready in minutes."

Aunty Em turned around and disappeared into the warehouse followed shortly by Percy and Annabeth leaving Harry and Grover standing at the open doors..

"Burgers," Percy said with a smile.

"Burgers," Annabeth agreed.

"Ok, I know there's plenty of stereotypes about Americans loving their burgers," Harry whispered to Grover. "But this is ridiculous."

"Something is wrong, really wrong," Grover said as he took a few cautious steps into the warehouse. "This place reeks of Monsters and Percy and Annabeth are acting weird."

Harry and Grover walked to catch up with the others, the Warehouse was filled with more statues, people in all different poses, wearing all different outfits and with different expressions on their faces. Their eyes seemed to follow them.

Harry looked around for the people who were making a din talking, but other than the statues they were alone.

"Where are those voices coming from?" Harry asked in confusion.

"What voices?" Grover asked in return.

Harry and Grover reached the dining area and saw Percy and Annabeth already sitting at a steel picnic table. Aunty Em was behind a fast food counter complete with a soda fountain, pretzel heater and a nacho cheese dispenser. Harry was hoping that the area would be filled with people, workers taking their break and talking about their day, that would explain what Harry was hearing. But the only ones in the room were Percy, Annabeth and Aunty Em.

"Please, sit down," Aunty Em called over the sound of sizzling burgers on a grill. "The food will be done in a minute."

Seeing as Harry knew he had their only money he approached the counter.

"How much?" Harry asked but Aunty Em waved him off.

"No, no, child. No money. This is a special case, yes? It is my treat, for such nice orphans."

Harry twitched, he knew he was an orphan but he didn't like being called one to flippantly.

"Thank you," Harry said with a forced smile and joined the others. He sat next to Grover across from Percy and Annabeth.

Moments later Aunty Em appeared with a plastic tray holding large portions of fries, large milkshakes and a cheeseburger each.

This was the first time Harry had such a meal in front of him, Hogwarts didn't serve this kind of food and the Dursleys would never…

"Thank you ma'am," Annabeth said. Harry noticed Aunty Em stiffen, as if Annabeth had done something wrong. She quickly relaxed again.

"Quite all right, Annabeth," she said. "You have such beautiful gray eyes, child."

Aunty Em disappeared back behind the counter.

"How did she know your name?" Harry asked. Annabeth answered with a shrug as she took a bite of her burger.

Harry looked around for whoever was talking, there should be dozens of people to match the noise but there was no one. He nervously ate his fries.

"Okay, seriously," Harry said in a slight panic. "Can't you guys hear that?"

"I can't hear anything, just a hissing sound, must be the deep fryer," Grover said as he chewed on the grease paper the meal came with.

Harry looked around and his eyes locked on another statue, this one was of a young girl holding an Easter basket. She was very detailed, but something was wrong with her face. It looked as if she were startled, even terrified.

Aunty Em had reappeared and noticed Harry looking at the statue.

"Ah," Aunty Em said sadly. "You notice some of my creations do not turn out well. They are marred. They do not sell. The face is the hardest to get right. Always the face."

Annabeth looked startled, like she'd realized something. She placed her almost finished burger down and looked around nervously.

"P-Percy?" she shook his shoulder trying to get his attention. "Maybe we should go. I mean, the ringmaster will be waiting." she sounded tense.

"Such beautiful eyes," Aunty Em told Annabeth again. "My, yes, it has been a long time since I've seen gray eyes like those." she reached out to stroke Annabeth's cheek, but Annabeth stood up abruptly.

"We really should go."

"Yes!" Grover agreed with her as he swallowed his waxed paper and stood up. The ringmaster is waiting! Right!"

"Please, dears," Aunty Em pleaded. "I so rarely get to see children, Before you go, won't you at least sit for a pose?"

"A p-pose?" Annabeth asked warily.

"A photograph. I will use it to model a new statue set. They are so popular, you see. Everyone loves children."

Annabeth shifted her weight from foot to foot. "I don't think we can, ma'am. Come on Percy-"

"Sure we can," Percy said irritably, he wasn't happy with Annabeth being rude to Aunty Em after she fed them for free. "It's just a photo, Annabeth. What's the harm?"

"Yes, Annabeth," the woman purred. "No harm."

Annabeth didn't like it. Aunty Em lead the four campers back to the front door, into the garden of statues.

Aunty Em directed them to a park bench next to the stone satyr and guided them into position. Harry noticed that the voices had stopped the din and started whispering rapidly, he was able to make out a few sentences.

'_Ooh, I love thisss part," _one voice said.

'_Shh, I'm tying to watch," _another said.

'_Pass the popcorn,' _another said.

"Where's your camera?" Grover asked.

Aunty Em stepped back, as if to admire the shot. "Now the face is the most difficult. Can you smile for me please. Everyone? A large smile?"

Harry was thinking about the voices, he felt he was missing something. Something familiar.

Grover turned to look at the satyr statue next to him. "That sure does look like Uncle Ferdinand."

"_Voices only I can hear," _Harry thought, it started coming together and it wasn't good. _'Snakes… statues, Aunty Em… Aunty M… Clash of the Titans… oh SHIT!' _Harry's eyes widened as he saw Aunty M reach for her veil.

"That is Uncle Ferdinand!" Grover gasped.

"Look away from her!" Annabeth shouted, she obviously figured it out too. She whipped her Yankees cap onto her head and vanished. Her invisible hands pushed Grover and Percy both off the bench. Harry was able to look away just in time and dove behind the bench.

"Medusa," Harry gasped as he scrambled across the floor and tried to reach for his Swiss army knife with shaking hands. He placed his back against a wall and pulled out the knife, instead of flipping out the blade he held it up and looked at the reflection in the silver. Medusa stood over Percy who hadn't moved but knew enough not to look up. Medusa had a hundred snakes writhing in place of her hair, the bottom of her body had turned into a snakes.

"Snakes," Harry spat through gritted teeth. "Why is it always snakes?"

Annabeth appeared next to Harry taking off her hat.

"We mustn't look her in the eyes," Annabeth said.

"I know, I saw the movie in school one time," Harry said quickly.

"Such a pity to destroy a handsome young face," she told Percy soothingly. "Stay with me, Percy. All you have to do is look up."

"Don't do it Percy!" Annabeth shouted.

"The Grey-Eyes one did this to me, Percy," Medusa said as she glared in their direction. "Annabeth's mother, the cursed Athena, turned me from a beautiful woman into this."

"Don't listen to her!" Annabeth shouted again.

"Silence!" Medusa screeched at her.

"She'll turn us to stone only if look directly into her eyes?" Harry asked as an idea popped into his head. He remembered that he could see her eyes slightly through the veil but hadn't turned to stone.

"Yeah, why?" Annabeth asked as she shifted the weight of her dagger in her hand.

"For the first time in my life," Harry said as he took off his glasses. "I'm glad I have terrible eyesight. Look after these for me would you?" he said as he passed his glasses to the blur formerly known as Annabeth.

"Harry no!"

It was to late, Harry darted from behind the wall and rushed at the blurry Medusa, he scrambled to flip the blade out of his knife, but what flipped out was not sharp, it was long, thin and had a blunt end. The screwdriver attachment. Harry cursed as he tried to flip the screwdriver back into the handle, but it was growing and not into a sword. A second later Harry was holding a long wooden shaft with a silvery sharp head.

"Since when did it turn into a spear?" Harry muttered in shock. Then he realized he'd never flipped out any attachment other than the blade.

"Grahh!" Medusa lunged at Harry, the snakes on her head cheered like an audience on a TV quiz show when a contestant gets a question right.

Harry held up the spear to block her, as she landed along the shaft Harry threw her to the side swiping the tip of the spear across her arm in the process.

"Harry!" Grover's voice called out from above them, "Duck!"

Harry didn't hesitate, he dropped to the ground as Grover flew overhead using Luke's flying shoes, he swung a tree branch the size of a baseball bat at the monster.

"You miserable satyr," she snarled. "I'll add you to my collection!"

As Grover flew overhead the snakes seemed to find him amusing, they started humming a tune that sounded like 'Ride of the Valkyries'.

"That was for Uncle Ferdinand!" Grover yelled back and swung at Medusa again, the branch shattered against Medusa and she fell to the ground.

"Hey guys!" Grover yelled from above. "I think she's unconscious."

"**Roooaaarrr!**"

"Maybe not!" Grover yelped and dodged as she took another swipe at him with her claws.

Harry's mind wandered for a moment, the girl he'd seen in the dining area, maybe ten years old, holding an Easter basket, her face frozen in a shocked, horrified expression. Her whole life ahead of her, only for it to be stolen by this monster. A rage boiled up inside him.

He'd felt this kind of outrage twice before, when Hermione was being attacked by a Troll and when Ginny was taken into the Chamber of Secrets.

'_Her skeleton will lie in the chamber forever' _That line echoed through his head as he remembered the stone child's face.

With gritted teeth he stood up and rushed at Medusa who's back was turned as she jumped and clawed at the floating Grover.

He thrust forward with his spear.

_**Shluk!**_

The tip of the spear pierced Medusa's back and sprouted out of her chest.

"Ahh!" Medusa let loose an earsplitting scream.

Suddenly Percy appeared from behind a nearby pillar, he must have scrambled for cover behind it when Harry entered the fight. With his head turned away, Percy slashed out with Riptide, the blade slashed across Medusa's neck. Her head fell to the ground and the rest of her body fell to dust and blew away around Harry's spear.

To Be Continued…

plz r&r


	5. V: The Hunter & The Hunted

**Harry Potter & the Olympians : Tides of War**

V: The Hunter & The Hunted

"Don't look down," Annabeth said as she approached cautiously. Percy still had his eyes closed and Harry stilled had his spear pointed in his direction. "The head can still turn you to stone if you look into it's eyes."

"Why didn't the head disappear too?" Percy asked

"Once you cut it off it became a spoil of war, like your Minotaur horn," Annabeth explained as she draped Medusa's discarded veil over the head.

Annabeth reached into her pocket and produced Harry's glasses, she placed them into Harry's free hand. "Where'd the spear come from?"

"My knife, I flipped the screwdriver out instead of the blade," Harry said as he placed his glasses back on face, his eyesight immediately cleared up. "It transformed into a spear instead of a sword."

Percy recapped his pen, Harry flipped the spear back into it's Swiss army knife form and together the four stumbled back into the warehouse and to the dining area. After wrapping Medusa's head in a grocery bag, the four dropped back into their seats were they'd eaten. They were too exhausted to speak.

"So, we have Athena to thank for this monster?" Percy asked remembering what Medusa said about Annabeth's mother..

Annabeth gave Percy an irritated look. "Your dad actually. Medusa was Poseidon's girlfriend. They decided to meet in my mother's temple. That's why Athena turned her into a monster."

"Oh so now it's my fault we met Medusa?"

The two started trading insults as Grover rubbed his head.

"Hey!" Grover interrupted. "You two are giving me a migraine, and satyrs don't even get migraines. What're we going to do with the head?"

"You want it?" Percy asked Harry who was taking a drink of his shake. Harry held up his hand.

"No thanks, I've already got a Basilisk head in my cabin, I don't need her too," Harry said with a shake of his head. "Besides you're the one who cut it off."

"I'll be back," Percy picked up the head and bade his way into the back of the warehouse, disappearing into what looked like an office after a few minutes he came back holding an armful of papers and a cardboard box.

"I found something!" Percy said as he pushed a document in front of Annabeth and Harry. It was an invoice for statues shipped to Hades and Persephone's garden. The Underworld's billing address was 'DOA Recording Studios, West Hollywood, California.'

"Hollywood… Los Angeles right?" Harry asked, Annabeth nodded with a smile, they now knew where to go.

"The entrance to the Underworld is in Hollywood… makes sense, more people have sold their souls there than anywhere else on Earth," Harry joked.

Many of the other papers were envelopes and packing slips for **H**ermes **O**vernight **E**xpress, each with a little leather bag attached for coins.

Percy packed Medusa's head into the cardboard box and filled out a delivery slip.

**The Gods**

**Mount Olympus**

**600th Floor**

**Empire State Building**

**New York, NY**

**With Best Wishes**

**PERCY JACKSON**

"They're not going to like that," Grover warned. "They'll think you're impertinent."

"He _is_ impertinent," Harry argued with a smile on his face. "and so am I, put my name down too."

After scribbling down Harry's name under his own, Percy poured a few golden drachmas into the leather pouch. As soon as it was closed there was a sound like a cash register.

"_Road trip! Woo!" _Came a dozen voices from the box that only Harry could hear. The box floated a few feet into the air and disappeared with a pop.

Harry looked thoughtful, up until now he didn't know where Olympus was, now thanks to Percy's little prank, he did. However he knew that it wouldn't be smart to go there until they had the bolt, otherwise Zeus might just blast them there and then.

They spent the next fifteen minutes raiding Medusa's belongings, there wasn't much food despite the misguiding snack bar. Harry stayed sat down and looked at the stone girl again. Still frozen, still looking terrified. He'd hoped that killing Medusa might have broken her spell on all these people, it hadn't. For a moment he wondered if this girl's parents were still out there somewhere looking for her.

Suddenly Harry had an idea. He looked through the papers Percy had found, he retrieved a blank piece of paper, a H-O-E envelope and a pen. He quickly scribbled down a letter and shoved it into the envelope. He then filled out a shipping order on the envelope.

**Albus Dumbledore**

**Headmasters Office**

**Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry**

**Hogsmead**

**Scotland, United Kingdom**

After slipping a few golden drachmas into the leather pouch, a cash register rang, the envelope floated into the air and disappeared with a pop.

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That night they were pretty miserable. They camped out in the woods, a hundred meters from the main road. The clearing they stayed in looked like people had been there recently partying, the ground was littered with flattened pop cans and fast food wrappers.

They'd taken some blankets from Aunty Em's but they didn't dare light a fire and attract attention. The Furies and Medusa had been enough for one day. They slept in shifts, Annabeth fell asleep as soon as her head hit her blanket.

Harry laid back and looked up at the sky, he couldn't see many stars, only the brightest and most recognizable ones, Orion, the Big Dipper, light pollution ruined the view.

"It makes me sad Percy," Grover said from his spot laying on a branch in the nearest tree.

"What does? The fact that you signed up for this stupid quest?" Percy asked.

"No. This makes me sad." He pointed at all the garbage on the ground. "And the sky. You can't even see the stars. They've polluted the sky. This is a terrible time to be a satyr."

"Oh, yeah. I guess you'd be an environmentalist."

Grover glared at him. "Only a human wouldn't be. Your species is clogging up the world so fast… ah, never mind. It's useless to lecture a human. At the rate things are going, I'll never find Pan."

"Pam? Like the cooking spray?" Percy asked, Harry snorted letting them know he was still awake.

"Pan. P-A-N. The god of the wild," Harry explained as he sat up slightly.

Grover nodded, glad that somebody knew what he was talking about.

"That's why I want a searchers license," Grover said. "The God of the Wild Places disappeared two thousand years ago. A sailor off the coast of Ephesos heard a mysterious voice crying out from the shore, "Tell them that the great god Pan has died!" When humans heard the news they believed it. They've been pillaging Pan's kingdom even since. But for the satyrs, Pan was our lord and master. He protected us and the wild places of the earth. We refuse to believe that he died. In every generation the bravest satyrs pledge their lives to finding Pan. They search the earth exploring all the wildest places, hoping to find where he is hidden and wake him from his sleep."

"and you want to be a searcher?" Harry asked.

"It's my life's dream," Grover said. "My father was a searcher. And my Uncle Ferdinand, he knew the risks. So did my dad. But I'll succeed. I'll be the first searcher to return alive."

"Hang on - the first?" Percy asked with wide eyes.

"No searcher has ever come back. Once they set out, they disappear. They're never seen alive again." Grover explained. "But it's worth it, if we find Pan then he can fix the wild, undo the mess that you humans have made of the world."

"Hey!" Harry snapped, getting annoyed at Grover's accusations. "Not all humans are like that, especially where I'm from."

"You saying England doesn't litter?" Percy asked.

"I'm not talking about England. I'm a wizard. We don't make a mess of the world, we don't litter, we don't cause light pollution hell we don't even use electricity!" Harry explained.

"You don't?" Percy asked in surprise.

"No, electronics don't work around our magic. You should see Hogwarts…" Harry mused as he laid back, closed his eyes and remembered his home. "A castle in the highlands of Scotland. A village called Hogsmead not far from it. At night both are dotted with small lights coming from old fashioned oil lanterns. No mortal cities for miles all around so at night the sky is dotted with stars and those stars are reflected perfectly off the water of the great lake next to the castle. The view at night from the Astronomy tower is amazing."

Grover let out a sigh as he imagined it. Harry continued to remember Hogwarts as his eyes slowly drooped and he slipped into a deep sleep.

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_Harry was walking through the woods quietly, carefully stepping over any branch or cluster of leafs that may give his position away. He held a bow with an arrow ready to be pulled back. It was the best weapon for his task, much better than the sword on his left hip, or the axe hanging from his right thigh, or the spear strapped to his back._

_Ahead he saw a deer in a clearing, drinking from a crystal clear lake. Coming to the side of a tree he aimed his bow at his prey and pulled the arrow back, taking careful aim at his dinner. He took a deep breath and… his finger fumbled with the arrow when he saw her. The most beautiful woman he'd ever seen, dressed in pure white clothes, her auburn hair tied back, her eyes, silvery yellow like the moon. She emerged slowly from the trees behind the deer and stroked it, the deer should have run away from a human being that close. Instead it looked up and leaned it's head into her hand._

_Harry lowered the bow and took a step back, a loud 'SNAP' came from a branch he'd stepped on. The woman looked in his direction, her eyes turned from soft and warm to stern and dangerous._

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Harry woke up with a start when he heard a loud 'SNAP' that sounded almost identical to the one from his dream. He looked up and saw Annabeth standing on a twig.

"Sorry," Annabeth apologized.

It was early morning, the sun hadn't come up yet and Harry could still seen the moon.

"It's okay, I'm used to getting up early," Harry said as he sat up and stretched. "You can get a couple hours extra sleep if you want, I'll take watch."

"Nah, I'm good," Annabeth said as she took a seat across from him and cast a glance at Percy and Grover whom were still sleeping.

"Harry, I have to ask you something," Annabeth said as she fingered a ring hanging from her leather necklace. "What was your life like back in England?"

Harry stiffened, he got the feeling Annabeth wasn't talking about Hogwarts.

"The way you talk about not missing your family, did your parents ever…" Annabeth stumbled over what she was trying to say.

"No, it wasn't them!" Harry quickly said, not wanting Annabeth to think that way about Lily and James Potter. A moment after the words left his lips he regretted it, he'd implied that he was mistreated. Harry took a deep breath and spoke.

"My… Mortal parents were murdered when I was only a year old. I survived but I was sent to live with my Aunt and Uncle, they hate anything 'Unnatural.' Since my Mum and Dad were magical they knew I would be and they hated me for it," Harry hadn't meant to start blurting out these things but it was the first time he'd ever spoken about them to anyone.

"Whenever they talked to me they'd call me Boy or Freak, I didn't even know my name until I started school, I got in trouble because I didn't answer attendance," Harry said with an annoyed shake of his head.

"They made you sleep in a cupboard," Annabeth blurted out making Harry's eyes widen.

"How did you know that?" Harry demanded.

"D-Demigods sometimes have dreams, they can be of the future, the present or the past. The night before we left camp I dreamt about a boy sleeping in a cupboard, he was woken up by a woman with a really long neck and told to cook breakfast, he stood on a stool cooking a pan of bacon, he slipped, the pan fell and…" Annabeth's eyes were filled with tears as she described the dream. Harry felt a phantom pain coming from his leg, he remembered that day, his leg had been horribly burnt. "I'm so sorry Harry, I know these things are personal."

A silence hang between them for a few minutes, Harry knew he had to change the subject and had the perfect topic.

"About these Demigod dreams, I think I've been having a few," Harry said.

"About what?" Annabeth asked eager to change the subject.

"Well first about a girl," Annabeth raised an eyebrow at him. "Not like that!" he added quickly making her smirk.

"I've never seen this girl in my life but she keeps appearing, she appeared during the prophesy too, giving the final line," Harry said.

"About the boy who lived dieing?" Annabeth remembered. Harry winced but nodded.

"Maybe she has something to do with him, whoever he is, what did she look like?" Annabeth asked.

"Um, short black hair, a few freckles, blue eyes," Harry described her, he didn't noticed Annabeth's eyes widened a little at the description. "She was wearing a pair of blue jeans with the knees worn out and a black t-shirt that had a picture of a Barbie doll with an arrow through it's head, above that picture it said-"

"Death to Barbie?" Annabeth asked.

"Y-Yeah… ok seriously can you read my mind or something?" Harry asked a little irritated.

"No it's not… I know… knew her," Annabeth muttered incoherently. "Thalia."

"Thalia?" Harry asked trying to remember where he'd heard the name, then he remembered. "Wait, Thalia? Daughter of Zeus? The one who was turned into a tree at camp?" Harry asked.

"Yeah… I knew her. I was brought to camp half blood with her and Luke, Grover was our protector," Annabeth explained with a sad look on her face as she remembered the incident. "We were being chased by the Furies and a pack of Hellhounds, Thalia told Grover to run with us to camp while she held them off… she sacrificed herself so that Luke, Grover and I could survive. As she was dieing Zeus took pity on her and turned her into the pine tree that protects our camp."

Harry's mind rattled, the girl he'd been dreaming of was the famous Thalia, the daughter Zeus fathered after breaking the oath the big three took.

Harry wanted to ask more questions about Thalia but Grover suddenly moaned "Food!" in his sleep and rolled over, right off his branch and fell to the ground with a thud. This noise caused Percy to stir awake. Harry only now noticed how long he and Annabeth had been talking, the sun was coming up and the moon was no longer visible.

"Well," Annabeth said, "The Zombies live."

"How long was I asleep?" Percy asked as he rubbed his eyes.

"Long enough for me to cook breakfast." Annabeth tossed Percy a packet of tortilla chips she'd grabbed from Aunty Em's snack bar. Before Percy could open the pack Harry grabbed the pack out of his hands with a shake of his head.

"That's not a breakfast!" Harry said while shooting a disapproving look at Annabeth. Harry reached into his own pack and produced a few cooking supplies he'd found in Medusa's kitchen. A frying pan with a bottle of vegetable oil and a few simple ingredients.

"You can cook?" Percy asked, wondering eagerly what Harry was about to cook. Annabeth twitched, she knew how Harry had learned, Harry shot a look at her that clearly told her to keep her mouth shut. He didn't want the others to know, it was bad enough that she knew.

"Can you start a fire?" Harry asked nobody in particular.

Harry threw flour, milk and a few eggs into a bowl and started mixing. Within a few minutes Harry had pancakes cooking in the pan making the others drool.

"So, anybody have any idea what we do from here?" Grover asked. "I mean, we're supposed to be on our way to Denver right now. We're barely out of New York and we're stuck here with no way west."

"Well, I still have around three hundred pou… dollars," Harry corrected himself. "We could get new tickets."

"Not another bus," Percy said warily.

"No," Annabeth said as she pointed down the hill. Harry followed her line of sight and saw train tracks. Last night he hadn't noticed them in the dark.. "There should be an Amtrack station nearby.

"A train, that I can handle," Harry said with a smile.

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They spent the next two days on a train heading west, Harry's money had been enough to purchase tickets for all four of them as far as Denver. They didn't have enough for sleeper cars so they slept in their seats. Due to the heat Harry had taken off his jacket almost immediately and stowed it along with his bow and quiver in an overhead compartment. He slipped his knife into his jeans pocket.

Towards the end of the second day on the train, June 13th, eight days before the summer solstice, they were heading over hills towards the Mississippi River and beyond it, St Louis.

Harry excused himself to use the restroom. He had to walk halfway down the train to find a vacant toilet. After he flushed and exited the toilet he suddenly felt something was wrong.

He looked forward and everything slowed down, he saw an arrow smash through a window on the right side of the train and head straight at him, he spun on his heels and the arrow shot past him piercing the head of the male sign on the restroom door.

Getting control of his breathing he looked out the window in amazement, the train was next to a highway, driving alongside the train was a fourteen wheeler truck. Standing on the back of the truck holding a bow was a person dressed in blue jeans, a white parker and over her face she wore a white ski mask covering everything but her eyes. Judging by her figure, it was a woman.

Suddenly she jumped from the truck and Harry heard a thump above him, she'd landed on the roof.

"What the hell?" Harry cursed, he considered running to get the others, but he examined the arrow a little closer, silver. It was the same kind of arrow that had hit him in the back when he was running from the bus.

He probably should have gotten the others, but this archer wasn't after them, she hadn't taken a shot at them, she'd taken two shots at him, she was after him. He wanted answers.

Harry looked left and right, the corridor was deserted, nobody had come out of their compartments to investigate the smashing sound, he quickly moved forward and kicked the remnants of the broken window, it fell loose and out of the train.

Carefully Harry climbed out of the window and up to the roof, the train was moving fast enough that his hair was flailing wildly, his arms stung from the cold air. As he lifted himself up to the roof, the archer was suddenly there, aiming an arrow at his forehead. Letting go with one hand he barely dodged it as the arrow shot past his face and hit the ground. Harry used the momentum of the swing to somehow flip himself up onto the roof. He reached into his jeans pocket and retrieved his knife, quickly flipping out the blade it transformed into a sword.

"Who are you?" Harry called out over the din of the rushing wind. "Why are you trying to kill me?"

She didn't say anything, she simply stowed her bow on her back and drew a bronze hunting knife from her side. She stepped towards Harry and slashed out, Harry raised his own blade and parried, he stumbled back a few steps as the wind pushed against him. She stepped again and brought her knife down in a stabbing motion, Harry raised his blade and caught her knife at his hand guard, they locked together, bronze grinding against silver, Harry's face inches away from the girls, he could make out her vicious eyes framed by coppery skin.

"Why are you doing this?" Harry asked as he struggled to hold her back, she was strong.

"You have dishonored my Mistress, thou shall pay for this transgression!" she spat at him with enraged eyes. With a strong push Harry stumbled backwards pushed by both this girl and the wind, with a quick slash of her knife Harry was cut lightly across his chest, ripping his shirt.

With the knife this Archer had the advantage of speed, Harry thought back to his lessons with Chiron and knew he had to keep his distance from her. He instinctively spun his blade in his hand, it turned from a sword into a spear. He lashed out at the girl forcing her back a few steps.

The train hit a turn and both Harry and the girl stumbled to the left side of the train, Harry stabbed the tip of the spear through the roof and held onto the shaft to stop from falling off. The girl likewise stabbed her knife into the roof to use as a handle. After a few moments the train straightened out again, the girl quickly ripped her blade out of the roof and rushed at Harry.

Harry struggled with his spear but managed to pull the tip out of the metal and turn the shaft ninety degrees horizontally just as she jumped at him with the intention to bring the blade down on him tip first. Harry caught the knife on the shaft when it was only an inch away from his face and held her back.

Using an advanced technique he'd only seen some of the Ares kids pull off during sparring. He pushed and spun the spear in his hands turning around at the same time and forcing her to turn. The end result was Harry and the girl back to back as Harry held the shaft of the spear behind him against the girls neck with her trying to push it away to breath. Harry suddenly bent forward using the spear to flip the girl backwards over his own back and she landed on her face. Harry stumbled, the wind was now pushing against his back.

She struggled to stand up, coughing and trying to get her breath back. Harry hesitated for a moment, that was all she needed, she grabbed her bow from her back and an arrow seemed to appear by itself, Harry rushed at her, now using the wind against his back to speed up, she fired an arrow at him, acting on instinct Harry jumped to the right not realizing that he was about to fall off the train, acting on instinct again he stabbed downwards with his spear, piercing the edge of the roof and holding on tight with both hands, he swung over the ground that was rushing by, with all his weight increasing his momentum he lashed out with his legs as he completed the swing and planted both of his feet into the girl's chest.

From Harry's running, the wind pushing him and the momentum of the swing around his spear the force of his kick was extraordinary. The girl was suddenly airborne, flying off the right side of the train. Any guilt Harry might have felt about what he'd just done was washed away as the girl landed with a loud splash. By some stroke of luck on her part, the train had just been crossing over the Mississippi River when Harry kicked her off the train.

Harry took deep breaths, as he calmed down he felt it, a piercing pain in his arm, Harry looked to the left and his eyes widened, the girl had managed to fire one last arrow just before Harry kicked her.

It had pierced his upper arm completely and was sticking out the other side, it hadn't hit a vein or bone, it was only a flesh wound. How Harry knew that he'd ponder later, right now he had to deal with it before he lost too much blood With a quick flip of his wrist the Spear changed back into it's Swiss army knife form and he slipped it into his pocket. Harry stood up and started walking towards the front end of the Train.

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Back in the groups compartment Annabeth was getting a little worried.

"What's taking Harry so long?" she wondered out loud. "We're stopping soon."

Somebody on the train had made an announcement five minutes ago that the train was stopping in St Louis for three hours.

Grover was about to say something when he suddenly looked up. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Percy asked looking a little anxious. He jumped when they heard a sudden thud coming from the roof. Annabeth drew her knife, Percy uncapped his pen transforming it into a sword and Grover picked up his frying pan which Harry had let him have (For a snack) after he was finished with it.

The roof had a hatch that suddenly popped open, the room was filled with wind and somebody dropped from above, it was Harry.

"Harry, what are you doing?" Annabeth shouted but stopped when she saw his arm. "Oh gods, what happened?"

"Long story," Harry muttered with a wince as he held his arm in pain.

Annabeth, being the only one with medical experience took charge, she placed her Celestial Bronze knife against the arrow, the blade cut through the arrow like a hot knife through butter, slicing the back end of the arrow letting it fall to the ground. As she worked, Harry quickly explained what happened.

"She landed in the Mississippi a couple miles back," Harry explained.

Annabeth grasped the front half of the arrow and passed Harry a clean cloth.

"When I pull it out press this against the wound," Annabeth instructed.

Percy and Grover both looked a little queasy as she tugged the arrow completely out of Harry's arm.

"Ahh!" Harry grunted in pain as he pressed the cloth against his arm.

"We should have been with you!" Annabeth said with a shake of her head.

"In the restroom?" Harry joked. "Annabeth, I went to take a piss, it's not like you could have expected this would happegh," Harry gagged as she shoved an ambrosia square into his mouth to shut him up. Harry tasted treacle and his arm tingled, the godly food quickly healed him. He pulled the cloth away and his arm was almost as good as new, leaving only a red spot of skin.

Annabeth picked up the remains of the arrow and examined them curiously.

"Harry, did you say this is the same kind of arrow that hit you in the back?" Annabeth asked.

"Yeah, why?" Harry asked back wondering what Annabeth was onto.

"I've seen this kind of arrow before… they're used by the hunters of Artemis," Annabeth revealed much to Harry's confusion.

"Hunters of… my Mother?"

"As you know, Artemis usually doesn't have children, but she does have her hunters, a group of girls who roam around the country hunting monsters, they're Artemis' handmaidens," Annabeth explained.

"Demigods?" Percy asked.

"Some, but Artemis also recruits Nymphs and even Mortals sometimes," Annabeth answered. "Once they swear loyalty to Artemis they become immortal, unless they fall in battle, which is unlikely. Or break their oath."

"What oath?" Harry asked after swallowing the rest of the ambrosia.

"To forswear romantic love forever," Annabeth said. "To never get married, to remain a maiden forever, like Artemis." Annabeth winced at the look on Harry's face. She'd forgotten for a moment that Harry was Artemis's son.

"The one I fought said I'd dishonored her Mistress… she was talking about Artemis?" Harry asked.

"Remember the line in the prophesy? **A Hunter stalks her prey across the land**," Annabeth reminded him. "This girl must be the Hunter, a hunter of Artemis."

"And I'm her prey," Harry said grimly. A feeling of dread filled his heart as he remembered another section of the prophesy.

_**The Goddess of the Hunt shall defend her pride.**_

_**And the Boy-Who-Lived may finally die.**_

Had his mother sent this Hunter after him?

To Be Continued…

plz r&r


	6. VI: Battle in St Louis

**Harry Potter & the Olympians : Tides of War**

VI: Battle in St Louis

The train stopped in St Louis for three hours. Instead of waiting in the boiling hot train car the quartet opted to go sightseeing rather than wait for the Hunter to catch up with them.

Harry had his left arm in a sling, the Ambrosia had healed the wound but his arm still ached terribly, Annabeth said it was because the wound was caused by Celestial Bronze.

After getting off the train Annabeth pointed at a large arch structure, it looked like a huge shopping bag handle sticking two hundred meters out of the ground. The Gateway Arch.

"I want to do that," Annabeth said with a sigh.

"What?" Percy asked.

"Build something like that. I'm going to build the greatest monument to the gods ever. Something that'll last a thousand years."

"You?" Percy asked with a laugh. "An architect?"

"Yes, an architect," Annabeth snapped with flushed cheeks. "Athena expects her children to create things, not just tear them down, like a certain god of earthquakes I could mention." she said before storming off towards the Arch.

"Where're you going?" Grover called.

"The Gateway Arch," Annabeth called back. "This may be my only chance to ride to the top. Are you coming or not?"

The Arch was about a mile from the train station. The four weaved their way through the underground museum, looking at wagons and other junk from the 1800s. It wasn't all that thrilling but Harry for one was glad for a change of pace. Then he noticed Grover looking around nervously.

"You smell anything?" Harry asked

"Underground," Grover muttered distastefully. "Underground always smells like monsters. Probably doesn't mean anything."

With a 'ping' the elevator they were waiting for opened. They managed to squeeze into the tin box along with a big woman holding a small dog, a Chihuahua with a rhinestone collar.

They started going up, inside the Arch. Harry had never been in an elevator before, especially not one that went in a curve, his stomach wasn't too happy about it.

"No parents?" The big woman asked them.

Harry twitched, _'Why does everyone keep asking that?'_

"They're below," Annabeth answered noticing Harry's discomfort. "Scared of heights."

"Oh, the poor darlings," the Chihuahua in her arms growled at them.

"Now, now, sonny. Behave." The dog had the same beady eyes like it's owner, intelligent and vicious.

"Sonny, is that his name?" Percy asked.

"No," the lady said with a smile, as if that cleared everything up.

Getting off the elevator they reached the observation deck. Rows of tiny windows looked out over the city on one side and the river on the other. Harry had never been this high up without his broom, this didn't improve his mood, it simply reminded him of what Zeus had taken from him.

Harry wondered if the Hunter had dragged herself out of the river yet, if so she was probably pissed.

Annabeth kept talking about structural supports, and how she would've made the windows bigger and designed a see-through floor. She probably could have stayed up there for hours, but the park ranger announced that the observation deck would be closing in a few minutes.

Percy quickly steered them towards the elevator, he didn't like being this high up and in an enclosed space. Annabeth and Grover were loaded into the elevator and Percy was about to join them when he realized that two other tourists had already gotten in. No room for anyone else.

"Next car sirs," the park ranger said.

"We'll get out and wait with you," Annabeth said, she didn't want to separate again after what happened to Harry on the train.

"It's okay," Harry held his hand up. "We'll see you at the bottom."

Grover and Annabeth looked nervous., but they let the elevator door slide shut. Their car disappeared down the ramp.

Now the only people on the observation deck were Percy, Harry, a little boy with his parents, the park ranger and the fat lady with her Chihuahua.

Harry smiled uneasily at the lady, she smiled back, her forked tongue flickering through her teeth…

Wait a minute… forked tongue?

Before Harry could wonder if he'd really seen that, her Chihuahua jumped down from her arms and started yapping at him and Percy.

"Now, now, sonny," the lady said. "Does this look like a good time? We have all these nice people here."

"Doggie!" the little boy said with a smile. "Look, a doggie!" his parents pulled him back.

The Chihuahua bared his teeth at Harry and Percy. Black foam dripped from his black lips.

"Well son," the lady sighed. "If you insist."

Percy's gut hitched. "Um, did you just call that Chihuahua your son?"

"Chimera, dear," the lady corrected. "Not a Chihuahua. It's an easy mistake to make."

She rolled up her sleeves, revealing the skin on her arms was scaly and green. When she smiled Harry saw her teeth were fangs. The pupils of her eyes were sideways slits, like a reptile's.

The Chihuahua barked louder, and with each bark it grew. First to the size of a Doberman, then to a lion. The bark became a roar.

The little boy screamed. His parents pulled him back towards the exit, straight into the park ranger who stood paralyzed, gaping at the monster.

The chimera was now so tall its back rubbed against the roof. It had the head of a lion with a blood-caked mane, the body and hooves of a giant goat and a… (Harry closes his eyes and sighs)… a snake for a tail, a three-meter-long diamondback growing right out of its shaggy behind.

Around the Chimera's neck the rhinestone collar still hung and a plate sized dog tag hung from it.

CHIMERA - RABID, FIRE BREATHING, POISONOUS - IF FOUND, PLEASE CALL TARTARUS - EXT 954.

The snake lady made a hissing noise that might have been laughter. "Be honored, Percy Jackson and Harry Potter. Lord Zeus rarely allows me to test a hero with one of my brood. For I am the Mother of Monsters, terrible Echidna!"

Harry and Percy were frozen at the appearance of the two new monsters, Echidna and her son Chimera. Harry didn't know what to say, Percy blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "Echidna? Isn't that a kind of anteater?"

She howled, her reptilian face turning brown and green with rage. "I hate it when people say that! I hate Australia! Naming that ridiculous animal after me. For that, my so will destroy you both!"

"What?" Harry blurted out. "What'd I do?"

Chimera charged, its lion teeth gnashing. Harry and Percy leaped aside in different directions, Percy to the left, Harry to the right. The family screamed along with the park ranger while trying to pry open the emergency exit doors.

Percy uncapped his pen and ran to the other side of the deck yelling, "Hey, Chihuahua!"

The Chimera turned to him turned to him and opened it's mouth emitting a stench like the worlds biggest barbecue pi, and shot out a column of flame straight at him. Percy dodged to the side just in time, the flames struck the wall and melted a huge hole in the metal.

Harry meanwhile had removed his left arm from it's sling and stretched it, wincing at the pain. He retrieved his knife from his pocket and flipped out the blade, it grew into a silver sword. While the Chimera had it's attention on Percy, Harry tried to attack from behind, the snake tail didn't take kindly to that. It lashed out strongly knocking Harry's injured arm hard enough to force him to drop his blade, it lashed out again in an attempt to bite his neck, Harry managed to grab the snake just under it's head with both of his hands.

Harry fell to the ground still holding the snake back as it continued to lunge at him snapping it's mouth, the floor must have been waxed recently because Harry slid around wildly as the snake tried to get at it's dinner.

"WHY?" Harry yelled as he struggled to hold back the snake. "WHY IS IT ALWAYS SNAKES?"

The snake didn't answer, it simply continued hissing and snapping at him trying to get out of Harry's grip. Percy jumped back to his feet and lunged at the Chimera he swung his sword at the Chimera's neck. It was a mistake, Percy's sword sparked harmlessly off the dog collar.

The Chimera lunged and bit at Percy's sword, it was knocked out of his hand and through the melted hole in the wall and down towards the Mississippi river.

"Harry, I could use a hand here!" Percy called in desperation.

"I'm a little busy at the moment!" Harry yelled back, Percy noticed for the first time that Harry was on his back behind the Chimera holding back the snake tail.

'_Om-nom-nom-nom! Om-nomnomnom!' _the snake said in Parseltongue as it continued to snap at Harry's face. Harry let go with one hand and tried to reach for his sword, his fingertips barely touched the hilt.

"They don't make heroes like they used to, eh son?" Echidna said with a cackle.

Chimera growled, it seemed in no hurry to finish the two demigods off. It swiped at Percy playfully like a cat batting at a ball of wool. Percy took a step back, this was a mistake, he tripped backwards over a chunk of melted metal and tumbled through the hole in the wall, into the open air.

"Percy!" Harry yelled as he saw his friend disappear. Fuled with a need to help him somehow Harry found a rush of strength, he let go of the snake tail and lashed out with his fist, punching it hard enough to daze it. Harry rolled to the right and grabbed his sword, he rolled back to the left and swung it overhead down onto the snake's neck. The snake's head hit the ground and turned to golden dust.

As the chimera roared in Pain and started thrashing around smashing a hole in the roof. Harry rushed to the hole and looked down just in time to see Percy's body hit the Mississippi. Remembering he was the son of Poseidon Harry hoped that the water protected his friend. Then he realized he was now alone with two monsters.

"Oh sure, leave me up here to deal with them!" Harry mumbled in annoyance and turned back to the monsters. Chimera was growling at him, it's tail now nothing more than a stump.

"Look on the bright side, your mom has one less mouth to feed," Harry said with a shrug.

"Roooaaarrr!" Chimera leapt at him, acting on instinct Harry rolled under Chimera and scrambled back to his feet slashing at the monster. Only to be batted away once again.

Harry stumbled back to his feet and spotted something, the hole in the ceiling was big enough to fit through. Taking a chance Harry ran at the Chimera and jumped. The Chimera tried to bite Harry out of the air, Harry managed to plant his foot on top of it's snout and jump, using the Chimera's own strength to vault into the air and through the hole.

Harry took a deep breath of fresh air as he found himself standing on top of the Gateway Arch. Looking down he saw police cars, ambulances and fire trucks swarming around the base of the Arch. He only now realized he still had no way out. Chimera clawed at the hole trying to make it big enough to fit through and come after him.

"You think this'll stop me old man?" Harry said while looking at the sky. "An overweight snake lady and a mama's boy Chihuahua?" thunder rolled overhead and a bolt of lightning struck a building on the other side of the river, suddenly an idea blossomed in Harry's head, it was insane, it was reckless, it was suicidal… it was just the kind of idea Harry would come up with. It involved pissing off two different forces that wanted to kill him at once.

Harry ran back to the hole and looked down at the Chimera.

"Hey, want to hear a joke?" Harry called down to the monster. It stopped clawing and looked at him curiously.

"A Park Ranger sees a fat lady and a Chihuahua walking side by side," Harry started. "The park ranger says, "Hey you, put that filthy disgusting beast on a leash!""

The Chimera growled lowly at Harry's words, but he wasn't finished.

"Then the Chihuahua looks up at the park ranger and says, "I can't do that, she's my mother."" Harry finished with a smile.

The Chimera's eye widened in rage and let loose and furious roar, it leapt up and smashed it's way through the hole, tearing at it far more furiously than before. Harry dodged away from the hole and looked at the sky.

"Hey, you old fart!" Harry shouted, thunder rumbled. "You think this is enough to kill me? You send your little minions after me because you don't have the balls to do it yourself?" Lightning streaked across the sky, the clouds growing darker and darker. "This won't stop me! You want your little toy back? I'll get to LA, I'll find the bolt, then I'll come to Olympus and SHOVE IT UP YOUR ARSE!"

Lightning, crashed across the sky, three of them came together and shot at Harry. At the same time the Chimera emerged from the hole and dove at Harry. Harry dove onto his stomach and slid smoothly under the monster creating an effective barrier between him and the bolt of electricity heading his way, the lightning bolt struck the Chimera with all it's force while Harry slid headfirst into the hole and fell with a thud back into the observation deck, a few specks of golden dust followed him through the hole before fading away.

Harry breathed heavily as he looked up through the hole, half expecting the Chimera to come after him. He saw a shadow fall through the hole and hit the ground with a clang next to his head, the Chimera's plate sized dog tag, scorched and steaming.

He sat up and winced as a jolt of pain shot through his back where he landed. Then he saw her, he'd forgotten the Chimera wasn't alone. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a light above the elevator, somebody was coming up, if it was a civilian they'd be in terrible danger.

Echidna took deep breaths, she was shuddering with both rage and shock.

"M-My son… you, what did you do!" she roared. Harry had almost ten seconds before the elevator would arrive, maybe he could dive in and hit the down button before she cold get over her shock.

"Sorry lady, dog was rabid, had to put it down," Harry said as he stood up with his sword at the ready. A few seconds left.

"You, I'll kill you! I'll kill you!…" Echidna roared, 'ping' the elevator doors open. "I'll kill yoGH!" Echidna jolted forward and looked down, the tip of an arrow poked out of her chest. Two more quickly appeared along side it. Echidna suddenly turned to golden dust and blew away, the three arrows fell to the ground with a clatter.

"Ah crap," Harry cursed.

He looked at the elevator and his heart sank, where he was hoping to see Annabeth or Percy, instead stood a girl wearing dirty blue jeans, a dirty white parker and a white ski mask covering everything but her eyes, which were glaring furiously at him. Her clothes were soaked through, water dripped from her sleeves leaving a puddle beneath her. On her back was a soaked quiver of arrows and in her left hand was her bow.

"Okay," Harry said as he backed away from her slowly. "I know you're probably pissed at me for kicking your arse off a moving train and into the Mississippi but-"

This was obviously the wrong thing to say, the Hunter drew a new arrow, cocked it back in her bow and fired. At the exact same time, acting on instinct, Harry ducked down and grabbed Chimera's dog tag, still warm to the touch. Harry lifted it and stepped back from the force of the arrow shattering against it. After blocking a second arrow Harry flipping the tag onto it's side and threw it, the tag flew like a Frisbee at her. As she was reaching for another arrow she had to raise her bow to block the projectile, the strike knocked the bow from her hands.

She struggled to draw her dagger from her side with a numb arm, Harry charged and tackled her against the elevator door slamming her back against the metal. Gripping her collar tightly Harry fell backwards pulling her with him. He planted his foot against her stomach and flipped her over him, he rolled backward and straddled her waist, Harry spun his blade around and placed it at her chin, she froze.

They both laid there breathing deeply looking into each others eyes. Without removing the blade from her neck Harry reached up and grabbed the bottom of the ski mask, with a quick tug upwards the mask came off and Harry saw her face for the first time. She was beautiful.

Her skin was coppery, her long black hair was braided with a silver circlet. She looked like some kind of Persian princess, like a character from Aladdin. Her dangerous eyes glared into his.

"Ok, first question, what's your name?" Harry asked.

She remained silent, Harry pushed the tip of his blade against her skin, letting her know it was still there.

"Nightshade, Zoë Nightshade," she spat through her teeth.

"Good, now, why are you trying to kill me?" Harry asked.

"You dishonored my Mistress!" Zoë snapped out.

"You've said that before, but how? How have I dishonored Artemis?" Harry asked, almost afraid of the answer.

"My Mistress is a proud maiden, she swore to remain so for eternity. Yet you claim to be her son! She would never break her oath!" she spat as she tried to struggle against him grip.

"I claim to be her son?" Harry asked in anger and confusion. "She claimed me! Not the other way around!"

"LIES!" Zoë screamed. "I received a message from my Mistress on Olympus. An order to kill. You claim to be her son, I will cut your lying tongue out and offer it as a sacrifice."

It was useless talking to her, Harry quickly stood up keeping the tip of his sword at Zoë's neck, with his free hand he hit the elevator button. 'Ping'. the doors opened, he quickly jumped back and his the 'G' button causing the doors to close. Zoë quickly flipped back to her feet and retrieved her bow, drawing an arrow from her quiver she fired just as the doors were closing, the arrow passed through the closing doors, grazed Harry's cheek and struck the back of the elevator.

Harry leaned against the back of the Elevator, the arrow a few inches away from his face.

'_I'm claiming to be her son? A message from Artemis? A kill order?'_

Zoë Nightshade's words disturbed him. He had worried that Artemis had sent the hunter after him, now Zoë had confirmed it. He felt tears rolling down his cheeks, he look at the weapon in his hand, at some point it had changed back into it's Swiss army knife form. On the side was an etching of a deer and on the other side was some Greek writing he hadn't noticed before. His attention was on the deer. Artemis' sacred animal. A few days ago he loved this knife, it was a gift from his mother… his mother. That concept was new to him, alien. The only family he'd ever known were an abusive Aunt and Uncle and a cousin who bullied him. Now a week ago he'd learned of his real mother, Artemis, goddess of the hunt. A proud maiden, Zoe had called her.

_**The Goddess of the Hunt shall defend her pride.**_

_**And the Boy-Who-Lived may finally die.**_

'_Her pride as a Maiden, is she ashamed to have broken her vow? Ashamed of me?' _Harry wondered as he tried to stop his tears desperately. He looked at the knife against after wiping at his eyes. Now when he looked at it he felt nothing.

'Ping' the elevator doors opened on the ground floor. Harry's hand fell to his side and the knife slipped from his loose grip, clattering to the floor of the elevator. He walked away, he had a feeling this time, the knife wouldn't return to him.

Before leaving the elevator Harry pulled the elevator-stop button, that would slow Zoë down.

As he walked through the underground museum he shrugged off his jacket and threw it aside into an old wagon on display. As he walked out into the open air, he wasn't crying anymore.

V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W

Harry weaved through the crowd of emergency officials and news crews.

"Probably not a terrorist attack, we're told, but it's still very early in the investigation." a news lady said talking into a camera. "The damage as you can see, is very serious. There is speculation as to whether the damage was caused by the sudden freak lightning storm. However there are eyewitness reports of someone falling from the arch minutes before the storm."

Harry continued on looking for Annabeth, Grover and Percy. He had to find them quickly before Zoë caught up with him. He made his way towards the river where he'd last seen Percy.

"… two adolescent boys," another reporter was saying. "Channel Five has learned that surveillance cameras show two adolescent boys going wild on the observation deck, somehow setting off this freak explosion. Hard to believe John, but that's what we're hearing. Again, no confirmed fatalities…"

Harry backed away and kept his head down hoping that he wouldn't be recognized. Police, medics and reporters were everywhere.

"Harrr-y," a familiar voice bleated.

Harry turned around as he was tackled into a hug by someone with blond hair. Grover and Percy were there not far behind her.

"You okay man?" Percy asked looking guilty, after he'd fallen from the arch he realized that Harry was alone. Annabeth backed away from him and tried to look angry, but really she was relieved to see him.

"We thought you'd found your way to Hades the hard way! We left you and Percy alone for five minutes! What happened?" she shrieked.

"I sort of fell," Percy said.

"Two hundred meters?" she asked before looking at Harry. "What about you? We saw a bolt of lightning strike the Arch!"

"I'll explain what happened but we have to get out of here, the hunter's here," Harry said looking over his shoulder.

"What? She was there?" Percy asked.

"Come on!" Harry said and steered his friends away from the arch. A she did they overheard another reporter.

"Percy Jackson. That's right, Dan. Channel Twelve has learned that one of the boys who may have caused this explosion fit's the description of a young man wanted by the authorities for a serious New Jersey bus accident three days ago. And the boy is believed to be heading west. For our viewers at home, here is a photo of Percy Jackson."

They ducked around the news van and into an alley.

They half jogged back to the train station without being spotted. They got on board the train just before it pulled out for Denver. After they got comfortable in their compartment Harry started explaining everything that happened. They looked at him in horror as he repeated to them what he shouted at the sky.

"So that's what caused the lightning bolt?" Annabeth asked shakily. Harry nodded.

"I slid under the Chimera and the bolt struck him instead," Harry continued to explain. He got to the point where he pulled the Hunter's mask off.

"I asked her name. Zoë Nightshade," Harry said and Annabeth stiffened.

"I've met her once before," Annabeth muttered. "When I was seven, me Luke and Thalia ran into the Hunters. Zoë Nightshade is the Lieutenant of Artemis."

"Lieutenant?" Harry asked curiously.

"Artemis's second in command, she leads the hunters in Artemis' absence," Annabeth explained. This didn't improve Harry's mood. He finished the story with Zoë telling him that Artemis had ordered his death.

"Harry… it might not… the way it looks…" Annabeth stumbled over what she was trying to say.

"It's okay Annabeth," Harry said as he turned around and laid his head against his seat, looking out the window. "It's not the first time I've lost my mother."

Nobody knew what to say to that, Annabeth tried not to cry.

The train trundled west as sun went down, police lights still pulsing against the St Louis skyline behind them.

V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W V W

The next afternoon, June 14th, seven days before the solstice, the train rolled into Denver. They hadn't eaten since the night before in the dining car. They hadn't bathed since leaving Camp Half-Blood. Harry no longer had his jacket or Swiss army knife, when the others asked what happened to them he told them he didn't want to talk about it. He still had the bow and quiver Argus had given him.

"Let's try to contact Chiron," Annabeth said. "I want to tell him about your talk with the river spirit."

Last night Percy had explained what happened to him after he fell from the arch. When he hit the water he had a vision of a woman, a water spirit. She told him his father, Poseidon, wanted him to visit the Santa Monica beach.

"We can't use phones right?" Percy asked.

"We can't?" Harry asked in confusion.

"Using a phone is a really bad idea for Demigods," Annabeth explained. "It would be like sending up a flare to every monster for miles around. But I'm not talking about phones."

They wandered through downtown for about half an hour before Harry spoke up. "What're we looking for?"

"That," Annabeth said and pointed at an empty do-it-yourself car wash. They walked into the stall furthest out of sight, Grover took out the spray gun.

"It's seventy-five cents," Grover grumbled. "I've only got two quarters left. Annabeth?"

"Don't look at me," she said. "The dining car wiped me out."

Harry reached into his jeans pocket and grasped at the money he had remaining, buying tickets to Denver for the four of them had used up most of it. All he had remaining was a ten dollar bill, and five dollar bill, a couple of scrunched up single dollars and a handful of change. He tossed Grover a quarter.

"What exactly are we doing?" Percy asked, mirroring Harry's confusion.

Grover fed the quarters into the machine and set the knot to fine mist.

"I-M'ing," Grover answered.

"Instant messaging?" Percy asked.

"Iris-messaging," Annabeth corrected. "The rainbow goddess Iris carries messages for the gods. If you know how to ask, and she's not too busy, she'll do the same for half-bloods."

"You summon a goddess with a spray gun?" Harry asked with a smile.

Grover pointed the nozzle in the air and water hissed out in a thick white mist. Afternoon sunlight filtered through the vapor and broke into colors.

Annabeth held her palm out to Harry. "Drachma please." Harry fished a golden drachma from his pocket and tossed it to her.

She raised the coin over her head. "O goddess, accept our offering." she threw the drachma into the mist. It disappeared in a golden shimmer.

"Half-Blood Hill," Annabeth requested.

The mist rippled and suddenly they were looking the mist at strawberry fields and the Long Island Sound in the distance. The view from the porch of the Big House, the first view of the Camp Harry had seen. Standing with his back to them at the railing was a sandy-haired guy in short sand an orange tank top. He was holding a bronze sword and seemed to be staring at something down in the meadow.

"Luke!" Percy called.

He turned, eyes wide. "Percy!" his scarred face broke into a grin. "I that Annabeth too? Thank the gods! Are you guys okay?"

"We're… uh… fine," Annabeth stammered. She was madly straightening her dirty t-shirt, trying to comb the loose hair out of her face. "We thought - Chiron - I mean -"

"He's down at the cabins." Luke's smile faded. "We're having some issues with the campers. Listen, is everything cool with you? Are Grover and Harry all right?"

"We're here," Harry called stepping into view. "What kind of issues?"

"Chiron had to break up a fight," Luke explained. "Things are getting pretty tense here guys. Word leaked out about the Zeus-Poseidon-Artemis stand-off. We're not sure how, probably the same scumbag who summoned the hellhound. Now the campers are starting to take sides. Ares and Apollo are backing Poseidon, Athena is backing Zeus. The Aphrodite cabin is split, the boys on Zeus's side and the girls of Artemis' side… I wonder why?" Luke finished with a small smirk at Harry making him blush. It was no secret that most of the girls in the goddess of love's cabin had a crush on him. It was something about the accent.

"So what's you status? Chiron will be sorry he missed you," Luke asked. At that moment the beeper went off on the spray machine letting them know they only had a minute left before the water shut off. Percy quickly blurted out what happened to them so far on the quest, he stopped when the water shut off and Luke's face disappeared.

Annabeth seemed disturbed at the news, her mother, Athena, was taking sides against her two friends.

"Come on, let's find some dinner," Percy said.

A few minutes later the four were sitting at a booth in a gleaming chrome diner. All around them, families were eating burgers and drinking milkshakes and sodas.

Finally the waitress came over. She raised her eyebrow skeptically. "Well?"

"We, um, want to order dinner." Percy said.

"You kids have money to pay for it?" she asked in a mean tone, looking at their dirty clothes with disgust. She reminded Harry of Aunt Petunia.

Grover's lower lip quivered. Harry almost expected him to start bleating or eating the linoleum. Annabeth looked ready to pass out from hunger and Percy seemed to be struggling to come up with a sob story for the waitress. Harry on the other hand rolled his eyes in annoyance and a little anger, he been through a lot in the past few days, compared to that this rude waitress wasn't all that threatening.

"Do you always ask your customers for money before they've even ordered?" Harry asked roughly making her take a step back. "Three cheese burgers and four fries, a portion of onion rings and four chocolate milkshakes." Harry ordered as he fished his remaining money out of his pocket and placed it on the table for her to see.

The waitress hurried off with the order, not waiting to be scolded by the twelve-year-old again.

The others thanked him for dealing with the situation and buying their meals, Grover was thankful for Harry remembering he was vegetarian.

As they waited for their meal they discussed how they would continue their journey west now that they were completely out of cash and had no ride. Harry was trying to think of something when a rumble shook the whole building; a motorcycle the size of a baby elephant had pulled up to the curb.

All conversation in the diner stopped. The motorcycle's headlight glared red. Its gas tank had flames painted on it, and a shotgun holster riveted to either side, complete with shotguns.

The guy on the bike would've made pro wrestlers run crying for their mama. He was dressed in a red muscle shirt and black jeans and a black leather duster, with a hunting knife strapped to his thigh.

He wore red wraparound shades, and he had the cruelest, most brutal face they'd ever seen. Handsome, but wicked, with a oily black crew cut and cheeks that were scarred from many, many fights.

As he walked into the diner a hot dry wind blew through the place. Everybody watched him as if they were hypnotized, he waved his hand dismissively and as if a spell was broken, everybody went back to their meals and conversations.

To the groups horror, the biker grabbed a spare chair, placed it at the end of their booth and sat down. He looked directly at Percy.

"So, you're on Seaweed's kid huh?" he then turned to Harry and sneered. "and you must be Arty's kid, Potter. The one who dropped that snake on me!"

They should have been surprised, or scared, instead the biker seemed to emit an aura of hatred.

"What's it to you?" Percy snapped. Harry didn't blame him, just being near this guy made him angry for some reason.

Annabeth's eyes flashed a warning towards her friend. "Percy, this is-"

The biker raised his hand to silence her. "S'okay," he said. "I don't mind a little attitude. Long as you remember who's the boss. You know who I am little cousins?"

Suddenly it came to Harry, 'dropped a snake on him?'

"You're Clarisse's dad," Harry muttered with wide eyes. "Ares, god of war."

To Be Continued…

please review.


	7. VII: What is it Good For?

**Harry Potter & the Olympians : Tides of War**

VII: What is it Good For?

"You're Clarisse's dad," Harry muttered with wide eyes. "Ares, god of war."

Ares grinned and took off his shades, where his eyes should've been, there was only fire, empty sockets glowing with miniature nuclear explosions. "That's right, punk, I hear you've been giving Clarisse a hard time."

"She keeps starting fights, it's not my problem if she keeps losing them," Harry said with a shrug as he tried to ignore the anger Ares' presence was causing.

"Hah, too true kid," Ares said with a grin. "At first I didn't really like you, but after what you said to Pops when you were in St Louis? Hah! You should have seen his face, I thought his head was about to explode, even Hera laughed!"

Annabeth and Grover both looked nervous.

"And you should have seen Artemis's face when you ditched your weapon and jacket, she was furious," Ares said with another laugh. Harry twitched and clenched his jaw. "Anyway, as to why I'm here - I heard you were in town. I got a little proposition for you."

The waitress came back with heaping trays of food, she placed the food in front of them. Harry gave her the money and she scampered away from the dangerous looking biker and the mean twelve-year old.

"I need you to do me a favor," Ares said as he stole a fry from Harry's plate.

"What favor could we do for a god?" Harry asked.

"Something a god doesn't have time to do himself. It's nothing much. I left my shield at an abandoned water park here in town," Ares explained. "I was going on a little… date. With my girlfriend. We were interrupted. I left my shield behind. I want you to fetch it for me."

"Why don't you go back and get it yourself?" Percy asked roughly.

The fire in his Ares' eye sockets glowed a little hotter. "Why don't I turn you into a prairie dog and run you over with my Harley? Because I don't feel like it. A god is giving yourself a chance to prove yourself, Percy Jackson. Or maybe you only fight when there's a river for you to fall into, so your daddy can protect you. Not like Harry here," he patted Harry on the shoulder almost making him fall from his seat. "He stood his ground and fought, tricked Zeus into killing a monster for him, and slapped around the Lieutenant of Artemis for good measure."

Percy looked like he wanted to punch Ares. "We're not interested. We've already got a quest to complete."

"I know all about your quest, punk. When that item was first stolen, he sent his best out looking for it: Apollo, Athena, Artemis and me, naturally. If I couldn't sniff out a weapon that powerful…" He licked his lips, as if the very thought of the master bolt made him hungry. "Well… if I couldn't find it you've got no hope. Nevertheless, I'm trying to give you the benefit of a doubt. Your dad and I go way back. After all, I'm the one who told him my suspicions about old Corpse Breath."

"You told him Hades stole the bolt?" Percy asked.

"Yeah, so in a way, you've got me to thank for your little quest," Ares said stealing an onion ring from a quivering Grover's basket. "Now, I'm a generous guide. Just do my little job, and I'll help you on your way. I'll arrange a ride west for you and your friends."

"We're doing just fine on our own," Percy snapped, Ares' aura seemed to really effect him.

"Yeah right," Ares laughed. "No money. No wheels. No clue what you're up against. Help me out, and maybe I'll tell you something you need to know. Something about your mom."

Harry twitched at that, for a moment he thought Ares was talking about his mother, Artemis.

"My mom?" Percy asked, dispelling Harry's thoughts.

"That got your attention," Ares smiled cruelly. "The water park is a mile west on Delancy. You can't miss it. Look for the Tunnel of Love ride."

"What interrupted your date?" Percy asked. "Something scare you off?"

Ares bared his teeth. "You're lucky you met me, punk, and not one of the other Olympians. They're not as forgiving of rudeness as I am. I'll meet you back here when you're done. Don't disappoint me."

Harry blinked, and in that tiny moment of darkness, Ares was gone and the chair he'd been using had moved back to where it'd come from. For a moment Harry thought he'd imagined the god of war appearing, but the looks on Grover and Annabeth's faces told him otherwise.

"Not good," Grover said. "Ares sought you guys out. This is not good."

"It's probably some kind of trick," Percy said. "Forget Ares. Let's just go."

"We can't," Annabeth said. "Look, I hate Ares as much as anybody, but you don't ignore the gods unless you want serious bad fortune. He wasn't kidding about turning you into a rodent."

They sat there debating whether or not to go on this little side quest as they ate their food.

"Why does he need us?" Percy asked.

"Maybe it's a problem that requires brains," Annabeth said with a shrug.

"If that's true why would he come to Percy?" Harry joked and received a mock punch on his arm from Percy.

"Ares has strength. That's all he has. Even strength has to bow to wisdom sometimes," Annabeth continued.

"But this water park… he acted almost scared. What would make a war god run away like that?" Percy asked.

"I'm afraid we'll have to find out," Annabeth said worriedly.

"What did he mean about your mother?" Harry asked suddenly, he'd been itching to ask ever since Ares mentioned it..

Percy, Annabeth and Grover all looked uncomfortable. They were hiding something. "My mom…" Percy started sadly. "She was killed by the Minotaur the day I came to camp."

Harry looked at them, Percy looked sad, Grover looked guilty and Annabeth looked at them both sympathetically.

"That's why you accepted this quest so quickly," Harry realized. Harry was on this quest to get his belongings and Hedwig back. He'd never asked why Percy had agreed. "You're trying to bring your mother back from the Underworld."

W

The sun was sinking behind the mountains by the time they found the water park. Judging the sign, it had once been called **WATERLAND**, but now some of the letters were smashed out, so it read **WAT R A D**.

The main gate was padlocked and topped with barbed wire. Inside, huge dry waterslides and tubes and pipes curled everywhere, leading to empty pools. Old tickets and advertisements fluttered around the tarmac. With night coming, the place looked sad and creepy.

"If Ares brings his girlfriend here for a date," Percy said, staring up at the barbed wire, "I'd hate to see what she looks like."

"Percy," Annabeth warned. "Be more respectful."

"Why? I thought you hated Ares." Percy asked.

"He's still a god. And his girlfriend is very temperamental," Annabeth said nervously.

"You don't want to insult her looks," Grover added.

"Who is she? Echidna?" Percy joked.

"No, Aphrodite," Grover said, a little dreamily. "Goddess of love."

"I thought she was married to somebody," Percy said. "Hephaestus"

"What's your point?" Grover asked.

Harry looked at Percy with a raised eyebrow. "Zeus is married too, remember? Hera. That didn't stop him from having a bunch of kids with mortals. Even Poseidon is married, Am… Amph… ah, it's on the tip of my tongue."

"Amphitrite," Annabeth supplied

"Oh, right," Percy said awkwardly, wanting to change the subject. "So, how do we get in?"

"Maia!" Grover's shoes sprouted wings. He flew over the fence, did an unintended somersault in midair, then stumbled to a landing on the opposite side. He dusted off his jeans, as if he'd planned the whole thing. "You guys coming?"

Percy and Annabeth had to climb over the old fashioned way, being careful not to get caught in the barbed wire. Due to his skinniness Harry was able to slip through the bars. As Annabeth's feet hit the ground she immediately walked towards an old souvenir shop.

"Clothes," Annabeth said. "Fresh clothes."

"Yeah," Percy said. "But you can't just-"

"Watch me." Annabeth said as she snatched an entire row of stuff off the racks and disappeared into the changing room. A few minutes later she came out in Waterland flower-print shorts, a big red Waterland T-shirt and commemorative Waterland surf-shoes. A Waterland backpack was slung over her shoulder obviously stuffed with more goodies.

"What the heck," Grover shrugged. Soon, he and Percy were decked out like walking advertisements for the defunct theme park. Harry refused to wear any of it.

They continued to search the park for the Tunnel of Love. The theme park got creepier and creepier the darker it got.

"So, Ares and Aphrodite," Percy said, trying to get his mind off the growing dark. "They have a thing going?"

"That's old gossip," Annabeth said. "Three-thousand-year-old-gossip."

"What about Aphrodite's husband? He knows?" Percy asked

"Oh sure," Annabeth answered with a nod. "Catching them together has become like a hobby for him, he's always trying to embarrass them. That's why they meet in out-of-the-way places, like…" she stopped, looking straight ahead. "Like that."

In front of them was an empty pool. It was at least fifty meters across and shaped like a bowl. Around the rim, a dozen cupid statues stood guard with wings spread and bows ready to fire. On the opposite side from them was a tunnel opening up. The sign above it read: THRILL RIDE O' LOVE: THIS IS NOT YOUR PARENTS' TUNNEL OF LOVE!

"Guys, look," Grover pointed into the pool. At the bottom was a pink and white boat with hearts painted all over it. In the left seat, glinting in the faded light, was Ares's shield, a polished circle of bronze.

"This is too easy," Percy said as he cautiously peered over the edge. "So we just go down there and get it?"

"I said the same thing a year ago," Harry said looking down into the pool. "Ten minutes later I was fighting a giant chess set… long story," Harry added when his friends frowned at him.

Annabeth was busy checking out the nearest cupid statue, she ran her hand along the base. "There's a Greek letter carved here. Eta. I wonder…"

"Grover, you smell any monsters?" Percy asked. The satyr sniffed the air.

"Nothing."

"Nothing - like in-the-Arch-and-you-didn't-smell-Echidna nothing, or really nothing?" Percy asked. Grover looked hurt.

"I told you, that was underground."

"Ok, I'm sorry." Percy took a deep breath. "I'm going down there."

"I'll go with you." Grover didn't sound too enthusiastic, Harry suspected he wanted to make up for what had happened in St. Louis.

"No," Percy said, "I want you to stay up top with the flying shoes. You're he red baron, remember? I'll be counting on you for backup, in case something goes wrong."

"You should stay up here too Harry," Annabeth said eyeing his bow.

"Sure, I suppose that leaves you to go with Percy, into the tunnel of love, alone," Harry said trying to suppress a smirk. Annabeth's cheeks suddenly turned red.

"Oh gods, if somebody sees me," both Harry and Grover started chuckling prompting the daughter of Athena to glare at them with her grey eyes. "You're the son of Artemis, aren't you supposed to be dissuading me from going into a tunnel of love with a boy?"

"Fine," Percy said irritably as he started down the side of the pool. "I'll do it myself."

Annabeth sighed and followed him down, muttering something about how boys always messed things up.

"Tell me something," Harry asked as he watched Percy and Annabeth make their way down to the boat. "Ares and Aphrodite can go anywhere in existence on a date, from a tropical beach to the Antarctic, why would they come here, a ratty closed down water park?"

"They have to be careful, stay hidden," Grover explained as their friends reached the boat. "Hephaestus is always trying to catch them in the act and humiliate them…" the smile on his face melted away, he seemed to come to the same conclusion Harry had moments before.

Harry snapped his head to the side to look at the base of the nearest cupid statue where Annabeth had seen the Greek letter.

"Eta… that's a Greek 'H', Hephaestus!" Harry turned to look into the pool just as Percy picked up the shield.

"STOP!" Harry shouted too late, Percy picked up the shield and both he and Annabeth saw a thin metal tripwire tied to it. "IT'S A TRAP!"

Suddenly the cupid statues came to life holding very real bows and arrows, Harry was about to grab Grover and take cover when they fired, but not at them, they fired arrows at each other across the rim of the pool. Silky cables trailed from the arrows, arching over the pool and anchoring where they landed to form a large golden asterisk. Then smaller metallic threads started weaving together magically between the main strands, making a net.

Percy and Annabeth started scrambling back up the slope with the shield, trying to get out before the net was complete, Harry and Groved grasped at the threads trying to hold it open for them but it kept weaving around their hands.

A moment later the cupids heads split open and video cameras popped out focusing on Percy and Annabeth. Spotlights rose up around the pool blinding the four with illumination. Suddenly a voice boomed over a loudspeaker.

'LIVE TO OLYMPUS IN ONE MINUTE… FIFTY-NINE SECONDS, FIFTY-EIGHT…'

"I'm so stupid!" Annabeth screamed. "Eta is 'H'! he made this trap to catch his wife with Ares. Now we're going to be broadcast live to Olympus and look like absolute fools!"

"Hurry!" Harry shouted as he struggled to hold a small gap in the net open.

They'd almost made it to the rim when suddenly the rim of the pool opened like hatches and thousands of small metallic… things popped out.

"Ahh!" Annabeth screamed and slipped back down to the bottom of the pool. It was an army of wind-up, creepy-crawlies: bronze-gear bodies, spindly legs, little pincer mouths, all scuttling towards them in a wave of clicking, clattering metal. "Sp-Spiders!"

It seemed incredibly out of character for Annabeth to scream like this which made it all the more disturbing.

"AH!" Harry yelped, one of the spiders crawled onto Harry's hand and bit him making him drop the net allowing it to close up. Percy grabbed Annabeth and dragged her into the boat and away from the spiders.

"We have to get them out of there!" Harry said as he held his hand.

"They'll be ok right? I mean, this is just a prank on A-Ares and Aphrodite right?" Grover muttered as he watched the spiders get closer to his friends.

"Grover look at my hand," Harry said holding the hand out to him, it had a cut over the top that looked like a deep paper cut. "That was just one! This prank is meant for gods, not us."

Harry hadn't felt this powerless in a long time, all he had was a bow with a dozen arrows, there were millions of spiders. Grover was hovering above the net with the flying shoes trying to find a way through the net. Percy was kicking spiders away from the boat. Annabeth was still frozen with fright.

Harry wracked his brain trying to figure out a way out of this mess.

"Ahh, where's Hermione when need her?!"

'THIRTY, TWENTY-NINE,' called the loudspeaker.

Harry came up with half a dozen ideas but abandoned each one quickly as suicidal, doomed to fail or just plan stupid. Then he saw it, inside one of the hatches that the spiders had come from was a water pipe with a small leak. Harry suddenly remembered the day he met Percy when he controlled the water from the camp toilets to defend himself against Clarisse.

"That's it!" Harry pulled the bow from his back and readied an arrow, he let it fly, the shaft of wood slammed into the pipe, its celestial bronze tip cutting through the metal like paper causing it to burst and spray water into the pool. "Percy use the water!"

Percy seemed to have had the same idea, he was already staring at the pipe intently trying to find that same ability he'd used that day at camp.

It didn't take long, the pipes burst and water roared into the pool sweeping away the spiders. Percy pulled Annabeth into the seats on the boat and strapped them both in just as the water slammed into and picked up the boat, carrying it into the dark tunnel screaming. Harry and Grover ran towards the other end of the ride where Percy and Annabeth would exit, only to see that the exit of the ride was blocked by a pair of chained gates.

The sound of rushing water echoed from inside the tunnel along with shouting. Harry was about to fire another arrow at the padlock hoping the gates would open when his friend hit them, but it was too late. The boat appeared out of the darkness and slammed into the closed gates, Percy and Annabeth must have been standing up out of their seats, because they used the momentum to jump over the gate and become airborne. They flew over the pool that they could have landed in safely and plummeted straight towards the solid tarmac.

Both Harry and Grover acted on instinct, Grover flew down and caught Percy by the wrist, he tried to catch Annabeth too but missed. Luckily Harry had dropped his bow and held his arms open to catch the daughter of Athena. She slammed into him knocking them both to the ground with a thud, but relatively unharmed.

It was over, everybody was laying on the ground breathing heavily, the only one who wasn't soaked was Grover who'd been in the air for the entire ordeal.

"A Hellhound, the Furies, Medusa, Echidna, a Chimera… a hunter and now a million mechanical spiders," Harry said between breaths. "At this rate we'll get an express trip to the underworld."

A hundred meters away a camera on one of the cupid statues was looking directly at them, still filming with the spotlights on them.

"Show's over!" Percy yelled. "Thanks you! Goodnight!"

"Percy! Don't encourage them!" Harry snapped at him as he stood up and strode up to the closest camera. Everything was starting to get to him, the near death experiences, being played for a fool, his mother's kill order. That anger seemed to fuel his strength because he gripped the camera and ripped it off the statue, it was still rolling when he looked into it.

"Let me give you some advice, you want me dead, well take a number and get in line just like everybody else!" Harry shouted before smashing the camera against the head of the cupid statue, shattering both the head and the camera.

Harry took a few deep breaths to calm down before turning back to his friends, Grover and Annabeth looked horrified, Percy looked annoyed at the situation, he probably shared some of Harry's feelings towards the gods right now.

"We need to have a word with Ares," Harry said as he strode past them and made his way towards the exit.

"Agreed," Percy said falling into stride next to him.

W

The war god was waiting for them in the diner parking lot.

"Well, well," he said. "You didn't get yourselves killed."

"You knew it was a trap!" Percy accused.

Ares gave him a wicked grin. "Bet that crippled blacksmith was surprised when he netted a couple of stupid kids. You looked good on TV."

"Percy shoved the shield at him. "You're a jerk."

Annabeth and Grover's breath caught in their throat. Harry however was trying to resist the urge to draw him bow.

Ares grabbed his shield and spun it in the air like pizza dough. It changed form in midair, melting into a bulletproof vest. He slung it across his back.

"See that truck over there?" he pointed to an eighteen wheeler parked across the street from them diner. "That's your ride. Take you straight to L.A. with one stop in Vegas," they looked at the truck, written on the side in large bold letters.

KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL HUMANE ZOO TRANSPORT. WARNING: LIVE WILD ANIMALS.

"You're kidding…," Percy said incredulously as he stared at the truck.

Ares snapped his fingers and the back door of the truck unlatched. "Free ride west, punk. Stop complaining. And here's a little something for doing the job."

He slung a blue nylon backpack off his handlebars and tossed it to Percy. Inside were some fresh clothes for all of them, twenty dollars in cash, a pouch full of golden drachmas and a bag of Oreos.

Percy was about to mouth off at Ares when Grover interrupted him. "T-Thank you, Lord Ares. Thanks a lot."

Percy gritted his teeth and took the bag, slinging it over his shoulder. He knew that his anger was being caused by the war god's presence, but his hand still twitched like he was resisting the urge to throw a punch.

Harry felt the same urge, he tried to focus on something else to stop him from doing something stupid. In the window of the diner, the waitress who'd served them dinner was watching nervously, like she was afraid Ares might hurt them. She dragged the cook out from the kitchen to see. She said something to him. He nodded, held up a little disposable camera and snapped a picture of them.

'_Great,' _Harry thought, rolling his eyes. _'We'll be in the news again tomorrow'_

As he tried to clear his mind of the violent thoughts Ares' presence were stirring in him, Harry spotted something, standing at the corner near the diner was a man with a stand selling bumper stickers, one in particular stood out to him and Harry's mind immediately went into prank mode. Percy was still having words with Ares while Harry walked unnoticed over to the stand and used his last remaining dollar to buy the sticker.

'_First Fred and George, now Conner and Travis, these twins are a bad influence on me.'_

"You owe me one more thing," Percy tried to keep his voice level. "You promised me information about my mother."

"You sure you can handle the news?" He kick-started his motorcycle. "She's not dead."

You could hear a pin drop if it wasn't for the war god's bike rumbling.

"What do you mean?" Percy asked.

"I mean she was taken away by the Minotaur before she could die. She was turned into a shower of gold, right? That's metamorphosis. Not death. She's being kept."

"Kept. Why?"

"You need to study war, punk. Hostages. You take somebody to control somebody else."

"Nobody's controlling me!"

"Oh yeah?" Ares asked with a laugh. "See you around, kid."

"You're pretty smug, Lord Ares, for a guy who runs from Cupid statues."

Behind his glasses, fire glowed. Harry felt a hot wind in his hair as he returned to the group.

"We'll meet again, Percy Jackson. Next time you're in a fight, watch your back." Ares' threat ended when Harry came up behind him and slapped him on the back.

"Oh come on uncle, you got your shield, we got a ride west, everybody wins right? No need to throw threats around," Harry said placating the god of war.

Annabeth was shocked twofold. Because of Harry's sudden change in attitude and because he just slapped the god of war on the back.

"Get out of here you three, I need to have a word with potter," Ares ordered.

Percy looked like he wanted to say something else, but Annabeth and Grover grabbed him under the arms and dragged him away towards the truck. They didn't want to leave Harry alone but Percy's mouth was going to get them killed.

Harry was about to ask what the god wanted but didn't have a chance before Ares reached into his pocket and tossed something to him. Harry caught it with his skill as a Seeker and looked at it. It was a set of four bronze rings welded together and large enough for fingers to fit through, Harry had seen these a few times before, back in England on TV. Knuckledusters. Or Brass Knuckles.

"They're made of Celestial Bronze, since you ditched your little pocket knife I figured you could use a new weapon," Ares said hesitantly. Harry got the feeling that the god didn't really want to give it to him.

Harry slipped the knuckles onto his right hand and almost immediately a sharp bronze blade, almost seven inches long, slid out of the knuckles pointing down. The knuckles had become a trench knife, Harry recognized them from his old history class back in primary school.

"It reacts to your thoughts, you must have been thinking of attacking someone just now to take that form," Ares said with a smirk making Harry blush. "Try thinking of defending."

Harry tried to do it but Ares' presence just made him want to attack.

"Here, let me help," Ares reached for one of the shotguns attached to his bike, Harry's heart skipped a beat and almost immediately the knife retracted back into the knuckles and suddenly in a whirr of metal there was a bronze shield covering Harry's right forearm. On the front was a gothic engraving, like the head of a spear with two spiral tips on either side of the central tip. The engraving looked somewhat familiar.

"Why are you giving this to me?" Harry asked suspiciously just as Annabeth ran back to him shouting that the truck was about to leave. For a split second Ares looked uncomfortable, this quickly vanished and was replaced by a amused smirk.

"Twice in two days you've mouthed off at Pops and you're still standing, not a lot of people have the guts to do that" Ares explained, obviously he saw the footage from Waterland on Olympus. "I can't help but respect that. Consider that a bonus for amusing me."

Without another word Ares revved his bike and took off down the road. As he did Annabeth's eyes widened in horror and she understood why Harry slapped him on the back earlier. On the back of Ares' jacket was a bumper sticker that read…

**I 'HEART' EDWIN STARR**

"Oh gods… he's going to kill you, why did you do that?" Annabeth asked in a panicked tone grasping her hair in both hands.

Harry ignored her and walked towards the truck with a grin on his face muttering a few lines from a song.

"_War, huh, yeah, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing!"_

"Harry, I'll give you the same advice I just gave Percy. You don't want a god as your enemy. Especially not that god."

"Hey guys,:" Grover said. "I hate to interrupt but…" he pointed into the diner. At the cash register the last two customers were paying their bill, two men in identical black overalls, with a white logo on their backs that matched the KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL truck.

"If we're taking the zoo express, we need to hurry."

Harry and Annabeth ran across the street and climbed into the back of the big lorry and closed the door behind them, Percy and Grover were already inside.

The first thing that hit Harry was the smell. It reminded Harry of the time Dudley had pestered his parents for a cat. They gave into him and of course his loving aunt and uncle put it's litter tray in Harry's room… and by room I mean cupboard. Thankfully the cat was smart enough to run away in less than a week so Harry didn't have to put up with the smell for long.

The truck was dark until Percy uncapped his sword, the blade cast a faint light over a very sad scene. Sitting in a row of filthy metal cages were three of the most pathetic zoo animals they'd ever seen. A zebra, albino lion and some kind of antelope, all three were terribly thin. The lion had a sack of turnips in front of him and the antelope and zebra each had a tray of hamburger meat in front of them. Probably someone's idea of a cruel joke. The zebra had chewing gum stuck in it's mane and the antelope had a party balloon tied to it's antler. Each of the animals had flies buzzing around their heads.

"This is kindness?" Grover yelled. "Humane zoo transport?"

Grover looked like he was about to storm out of the truck and beat the drivers to death but was stopped when the engine roared to life and the truck started to move. The four of them were forced to sit down before they fell down. Grover tried talking to the animals in a series of goat bleats but they just stared at them sadly. Harry tried to help out a little, he took the meat from the zebra and antelope and gave it to the lion, while it was eating the meat enthusiastically Harry snatched the turnips out of it's cage and shared them between the two herbivores. While he was doing that Percy filled their waters bowls and Annabeth cut the balloon from the antler. She wanted to cut away the gum but it was took risky with the truck jerking around.

"Guys," Annabeth spoke up as she sat down on a filthy old turnip sack. "I'm sorry for freaking out back at the water park… it's just, spiders." she shuddered.

Harry remembered Annabeth's reaction when he told her about Acromantulas. Only now did he remember an old story he read in one of his Greek myth books.

"Because of the Arachne story," Percy vocalized what Harry thought. "She got turned into a spider for challenging your mom to a weaving contest right?"

Annabeth nodded. "Arachne's children have been taking revenge on the children of Athena ever since. It their's a spider within a mile of me it'll find me. I hate the creepy little things."

"Consider yourself lucky, where I come from they're not so little," Harry muttered causing Annabeth to shiver.

"Anyway, I owe you."

"We're a team remember?" Percy said. "Besides, Grover did all the fancy flying."

"I was pretty amazing, wasn't I?" Grover mumbled in his half asleep state.

Percy and Annabeth started talking about the situation at camp, Harry drifted in and out of consciousness only catching bit and pieces of their conversation, they were talking about what happened to Thalia five years ago.

'_Ssstupid humansss, keep it down, I'm trying to sssleep!'_

Harry jolted away when he heard an unfamiliar voice. He turned to the side and saw an empty turnip sack draped over something. He slowly crawled over to it and pulled the sack away carefully, under it was a small clear plastic container with a snake inside, the cage was way too small to hold a snake this big, it had to curl around itself several times to keep. "Why is it always snakes!" Harry moaned to himself.

"Careful Harry, that's a viper!" Annabeth had been watching Harry and was a little disturbed that they hadn't noticed the poisonous snake only a few feet away from them.

'_Yesss, be afraid, be very afraid!' _The snake hissed in a monotone to Annabeth.

"You okay?" Harry asked the snake, it came out as a series of hisses and tongue flicks surprising his three friends.

"You talk snake?!" Grover stuttered out.

'_You talk sssnake?!' _the snake asked at the same time.

"I'm a parseltongue, it's a magical talent in the wizarding world," Harry explained briefly, he didn't feel the need to tell them that the skill was associated with dark wizards.

'_Pleassse ssspeaker, let me out, I'm begging you, do you know what it's like to be trapped in such a small space with only scraps to eat?!' _Harry winced, the serpent really hit the nail on the head with that one.

"Ok, but bite me or my friends and you'll be the lions next meal, got it?" Harry warned. The snake nodded it's head franticly.

"Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out the brass knuckles Ares had given him. He slipped them onto his left hand and the blade melted out of the bottom. With one downwards stab the padlock fell to pieces, the steel lock was no match for the celestial bronze blade.

The snake quickly slithered out of the container and stretched out on the ground. He didn't stay still for long though, he slithered towards a dark corner of the truck looking for something.

"_Where are you? You thought you were ssso clever mocking me from outside the glassss, now I'm out and hungry!" _suddenly there was a rustling and a mouse shot out from under an old turnip sack. _"Got you!" _the snake lashed forward and bit the mouse, then quickly swallowed it. _"HAH, who'sss the tough guy now Vinnie!" _the snake yelled at the new bulge in it's stomach.

Harry watched the events with a disturbed look in his eyes. Before shaking his head pinching the bridge of his nose and saying… "Why is it always snakes?"

The rest of the night passed peacefully. Annabeth talked about her own home life before she came to Camp Half-Blood. She told Harry and Percy about her father marrying a woman who was mean to her, a typical evil stepmother story.

Percy tried convincing her to keep in touch with her dad, she wasn't interested. Harry couldn't argue with her, after his own experiences with the Dursleys he believed in letting her make her own choice, if Percy had tried to convince him to move back in with the Dursleys he probably would have hit him upside the head.

After a while Harry drifted off to sleep giving the snake one last warning to keep it's fangs to itself.

W

_Harry was walking through the woods quietly, carefully stepping over any branch or cluster of leafs that may give his position away. He held a bow with an arrow ready to be pulled back. It was the best weapon for his task, much better than the sword on his left hip, or the axe hanging from his right thigh, or the spear strapped to his back._

_Ahead he saw a deer in a clearing, drinking from a crystal clear lake. Coming to the side of a tree he aimed his bow at his prey and pulled the arrow back, taking careful aim at his dinner. He took a deep breath and… his finger fumbled with the arrow when he saw her. The most beautiful woman he'd ever seen, dressed in pure white clothes, her auburn hair tied back, her eyes, silvery yellow like the moon. She emerged slowly from the trees behind the deer and stroked it, the deer should have run away from a human being that close. Instead it looked up and leaned it's head into her hand._

_Harry lowered the bow and took a step back, a loud 'SNAP' came from a branch he'd stepped on. The woman looked in his direction, her eyes turned from soft and warm to stern and dangerous._

_The scene melted away and was replaced with another, Harry was in the middle of the same clearing, blood trailing down his left arm while he held his sword firmly in his right hand. Before him was the most monstrous thing he'd ever seen. It was huge, had eight spindly legs covered in black hairs, a pair of bulging pincers snapping at him and a tail curled up behind it with a sharp tip on the end ready to lash out and end his life. The scorpion was twice as big as him, it's mouth foamed and it's spider like eyes glared at him angrily._

"_Back, get back! You won't harm them!" Harry lashed out at the monster with his sword stopping it from advancing. It tried to snap at him with one of it's pincers Harry took the opportunity to slash at it's arm, the sword cut through the carapace and one of the scorpions pincers fell to the ground severed._

_The scorpion backed away trying to recover from having one of it's limbs taken from it._

_Harry was about to retreat and regroup when he heard it. A familiar whooshing sound of an arrow flying through the air, he didn't have time to react before the arrow slammed into the back of his shoulder causing him to drop his blade. Harry turned and saw her, the same auburn haired girl he saw before, in her left hand she held a bow loosely._

"_W-Why?" Harry asked through the pain._

_Harry's distraction was a fatal mistake, he turned back to the Scorpion just as it raised it's poisonous tail and thrust forwards piercing his chest._

"_AHH!"_

"_NO!"_

W

Harry jolted awake holding his chest, his dream felt so real.

"Harry, you okay?" Annabeth asked in a concerned tone. "You looked like you were having a nightmare."

"I'm fine," Harry said unsurely, he pulled his shirt forward slightly to check his chest just in case, it was fine.

"The truck's stopped," she said. "We think they're coming to check on the animals. Hide!"

She had it easy, all she had to do was slip on her magic hat and disappear. Percy and Grover dove behind the feed sacks and Harry grabbed one of the empty ones and covered himself just as the truck doors opened and sunlight poured in.

"Man!" one of the truckers waved his hand front of his ugly nose. "I wish we hauled appliances." he climbed inside and poured some water from a jug into the animals' dishes.

"You hot big boy?" he asked the lion, then splashed the rest of the bucket right in the lion's face. The lion roared in indignation. "Yeah, yeah, yeah."

The trucker threw a squashed McDonalds bag to the antelope and then smirked at the zebra. "How ya doin', Stripes? Least we'll be getting rid of you this stop. You like magic shows? You're gonna love this one. They're gonna saw you in half!"

"Okay, that's it!" Harry snapped. He threw the bag off himself and stood up, before the trucker could react Harry brought the bag down over his head covering him with it.

"Hey! Who's there?! Let me out!" he struggled to get out of the smelly sack. Harry kicked him in the backside knocking him out of the truck and into the busy street. Annabeth and Percy were already in motion, they'd drawn their weapons and slashed the locks holding the animals and opened the cages. All at once the animals burst out of the van and into the streets escaping down a wide boulevard lined with hotels and neon signs. Harry recognized the place from TV, they'd just released three wild animals into the heart of Las Vegas.

"I've placed a satyr's sanctuary on them, they'll reach the wild safely," Grover assured them.

"We have to get out of here!" Percy said as he jumped out of the truck right over the still struggling driver. Annabeth, Grover and Harry followed shortly behind. Nobody saw them exit the truck, they were too busy staring at the retreating animals to pay attention to them. Even the policemen who were quickly approaching the truck paid them no attention.

"Sorry guys," Harry said after he had calmed down. "Now we have to find another way to L.A."

"Don't be sorry, I was about to do the same thing!" Grover interjected.

"Grover's right Harry," Annabeth agreed. "We had to do something, don't worry, it's only June Fifteenth, we still have six days to until the solstice. Plenty of time."

They passed by half a dozen different casinos. The Monte Carlo and the MGM. They passed pyramids, a pirate ship and a replica of the statue of liberty. They weren't sure what they were looking for. Maybe a place to get out of the heat for a few minutes, find something to eat and drink, make a new plan for getting west. They must have taken a wrong turn at some point, because they found themselves at a dead end, standing in front of the Lotus Hotel and Casino.

To Be Continued…

plz r&r


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